THE Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) today raided four locations in its investigation into Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd.

In a brief statement, MACC announced that it is investigating and has confiscated several documents related to the RM43.9 million loss in Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s and Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) investment in FashionValet.

Sources confirmed to The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) that the locations under investigation include the Ministry of Finance (MOF), two government-linked companies (GLCs) — Khazanah and PNB — and FashionValet’s headquarters in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

“Today, MACC uncovered issues surrounding FashionValet in relation to the investment losses experienced by Khazanah and PNB.

“The investigation process is being conducted under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009,” said the statement.

The section, which relates to the submission of false claims, carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of RM10,000, or five times the value of the false claims, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

On Saturday (Nov 2), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim directed an internal audit into Khazanah’s loss-making investment in the e-commerce platform FashionValet.

“As chairman, I have instructed Khazanah to conduct an internal audit to investigate issues related to the recent investment loss amounting to RM43.9 million.

“This directive reinforces my earlier announcement directing the National Audit Department to audit 2,000 GLCs to establish a better governance system, as well as to ensure that all these companies fulfil their respective responsibilities and functions,” he said in his social media post.

On the same day, MACC said it had officially opened an investigation into the matter.

MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the investigation is crucial as it involves the use of public funds and is a matter of public interest.

“The MACC assures the public that a thorough investigation will be conducted fairly and professionally,” he said in a statement but not directly naming FashionValet.

In a written parliamentary reply last week, the MOF stated that sovereign wealth fund Khazanah invested RM27 million and asset manager PNB invested another RM20 million for minority stakes in FashionValet in 2018.

However, they lost RM43.9 million after selling their stake for RM3.1 million at the end of last year to NXBT Partners, an investment holding company controlled by Afzal Abdul Rahim, the CEO of TIME dotCom Bhd. — TMR