In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Malaysia could have just one aviation regulator by next year as the Ministry of Transport prepares to table a bill on the proposed merger between Mavcom and CAAM. Meanwhile, a businessman is said to have been arrested to assist money-laundering investigations into MYAirline’s co-founder.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:04 The Transport Ministry aims to merge the country's two aviation regulators,
00:08 Malaysian Aviation Commission or MAVCOM,
00:11 and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, CAAM, in 2024.
00:16 Its Minister, Anthony Lok, said a bill on the proposed move should be tabled
00:21 during the first sitting of Parliament next year,
00:24 and that all the necessary arrangements are being made to combine the two entities
00:29 into one single regulator for both technical and economic regulations.
00:34 According to a Burnama report, Lok said this would involve repealing the
00:38 Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 and then amending the Civil Aviation
00:43 Authority of Malaysia Act 2017. Lok first announced the proposed merger
00:49 in 2019. The Ministry's view is that combining
00:52 the two regulators will optimise available human and
00:56 financial resources and drive the development of the civil
00:59 aviation industry, making it more internationally competitive.
01:03 Commenting on the MyAirline issue, Lok reportedly said the Ministry is
01:08 still investigating whether the airline had gone through the proper procedure
01:12 before being granted its initial air service licence by MAVCOM.
01:17 This, he said, is something that MAVCOM has to be answerable to.
01:21 [Music]
01:26 Police have nabbed a businessman early this morning to assist in its money
01:30 laundering probe in relation to the arrest last week of
01:33 an airline company co-founder. According to a Burnama report, Bukit Aman
01:38 Commercial CID Director Datuk Sri Ramlee Mohamad Yusof said the man is a
01:43 shareholder of one of the companies founded by the said airline co-founder.
01:48 Other news reports said the individual who was arrested this morning is a
01:52 shareholder of iSurf Online Mall, which was raided by Bank Negara in 2021
01:58 and later fined RM50 million for accepting deposits without a licence.
02:03 He has been reportedly remanded for five days until Friday.
02:07 Police also reportedly seized 12 luxury vehicles,
02:11 six luxury watches, six designer handbags and jewellery, among others.
02:16 Meanwhile, the co-founder of the carrier, said to be My Airline,
02:20 has been freed on police bail today after his remand period ended.
02:24 [Music]
02:29 A key witness in the Penang undersea tunnel trial says
02:32 former Chief Minister Lim Guan Ying received RM2 million,
02:36 while Datuk Sri Najib Razak pocketed another RM2 million.
02:40 At the session's court today, Consortium Zenith Construction Senior Director Datuk
02:44 Zahro Ahmad Muhammad Zulkifli testified that he gave a total of RM4 million to the two men
02:51 through businessman G Niana Raja on August 17, 2017.
02:56 He said he retrieved RM2 million in cash from his own safe to give to Najib to help close
03:01 the MACC investigations and issued a RM2 million cheque for Lim.
03:07 Initially, the court was told that there was only RM2 million involved
03:11 in the handover to Niana Raja at Eastern Hotel in Petaling Jaya.
03:15 Following the conflicting testimony, Lim's counsel, Gobind Singh Teo,
03:19 asked that the defence be provided with the statement that Zahro Ahmad had given to the MACC
03:25 on the matter. The court then directed the parties to make oral submissions on this issue tomorrow.
03:31 [Music]
03:36 Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Sri Ahmad Maslan said in Parliament, the EPF's overall domestic
03:43 investment as of June this year grew to RM665 billion, marking a 9% increase compared to 2022.
03:52 By the end of 2023, the Retirement Savings Fund is expecting total domestic investment
03:58 to increase to RM700 billion. According to the Minister, the EPF's investment decisions are
04:05 guided by the fund allocation determined by its investment panel each year. From 2018 to 2022,
04:12 an average of over 80% of the total fund allocation was designated for investment
04:18 in the domestic market. For 2023, he said the EPF has allocated RM97 billion,
04:25 accounting for 83% of its total investment funds for domestic investments.
04:31 In response to a supplementary question, Ahmad Maslan said Putrajaya will not be permitting
04:36 targeted EPF withdrawals in the future. Members who need funds for emergencies
04:42 may instead make withdrawals from the soon-to-be-finalised flexible account.
04:46 [Music]
04:52 Bank Negara expects at least half of new financing by banks to be aligned with climate
04:57 supporting or transitioning activities by 2026. Speaking at the Journey to Zero conference hosted
05:04 by the Joint Committee on Climate Change, or JC3 today, BNM Governor Datuk Abdul Rashid Ghaffor
05:10 reaffirmed the central bank's commitment to provide a facilitative policy environment
05:15 for the banking industry in its move towards green lending. He said BNM is working to develop
05:21 guidance on transition plans to promote alignment between financial institutions' business and risk
05:26 strategies, their public commitments on climate goals and national plans, while safeguarding
05:32 against the risk of greenwashing. Meanwhile, the Securities Commissioner is working on the
05:37 next iteration of the Sustainable and Responsible Investment, or SRI, taxonomy released in December
05:44 last year. Chairman Datuk Sri Dr Awang Adik Hussein said the move would provide greater
05:49 guidance to the industry on the classification of economic activities to support sustainable investments.
05:56 [Music]