Council of eminent persons to meet Irwan Siregar today

KUALA LUMPUR: The Council of Eminent Persons has been continuously working since being established last Saturday, attending to numerous meetings and briefings, to assist the new government in fulfilling its 100-day promise.
Among others, the Council will be meeting Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Siregar in his capacity as Chairman of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for a briefing today.
Irwan has been placed in the Public Service Department from yesterday with his contract as Treasury Secretary-General ending on June 14. He is also not permitted to perform any task relating to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Other briefings for the day include that on fuel subsidy by the MoF, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, mega projects by the Director-General (DG) of the Public Private Partnership Unit, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hussain and development expenditure by the Deputy DG (Sectoral) of the Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Allauddin Anuar.
Other sessions include those the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MyHSR Corporation, Datuk Mohd Nur Ismail Mohamed Kamal and CEO of Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, Datuk Seri Darwis Abdul Razak on their respective projects.
Meanwhile, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin will also present the 2018 first quarter Growth Domestic Product report.
The new Pakatan Harapan government led by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed announced the formation of the Council of Eminent Persons to advise it during the period of transition of power.
The five-member 'Council of Elders' will also be lending their experience and expertise on economic and financial matters.
Led by former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, the other members include former BNM Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former Petronas President and CEO Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, economist Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram and tycoon Tan Sri Robert Kuok.
The council convened its first meeting immediately after the announcement of its formation on Saturday which ended late into the night.
Work continued on Sunday, as the council met with heads of government-linked investment companies (GLICs) including the Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, CEO of the Employees Provident Fund, Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan and President & Group Chief Executive of Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad.
Also present were the CEO of Retirement Fund Incorporated, Datuk Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad, Group Managing Director & CEO of Lembaga Tabung Haji, Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah and Chief Executive of Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin.
On Monday, the council had briefing sessions with international credit rating agencies which included Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, as well as meetings with the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (CUEPACS) and the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (REHDA).
Meanwhile, a briefing on the Goods and Services Tax by BNM and the MoF was held yesterday.
The council then chaired a briefing with local and international fund managers before meeting with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and the Malay Chamber of Commerce.
They also met the head of Public Bank, Maybank, CIMB, Bank Pembangunan and EXIM Bank. — Bernama