PETALING JAYA: KUALA LUMPUR: Although Malaysia would have hoped for a better price than the US$126 million (RM514 million) offered by Genting Malaysia Bhd for the Equanimity super yacht, its sale would save the government millions of ringgit each month.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng noted today that the government has spent over RM14.2 million to maintain the yacht over the last eight months, and selling it at the best price possible would relieve it from spending more on maintenance.
“We are in support of the sale because for the last eight months, the government has been paying over RM14.2 million to maintain. That is a very big amount.
“If we can sell it quickly, get the best price possible, at least we don’t have to bear this sum anymore. It’s almost RM2 million a month, and it’s very taxing,” he told a press conference here.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas announced the sale of Equanimity earlier today, saying the US$126 million would be paid by Genting to the Admiralty Court by the end of this month.
Thomas said while Malaysia received several other offers above US$100 million, Genting’s was the best offer it had received since the yacht was put up for sale.
“If you ask me, I would want to sell for a few hundred million dollars.
“But this is the best price we can get, so we have to accept it,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the proposed sale of the Malaysia consulate building in Hong Kong, Lim produced documentary evidence that the Pakatan Harapan government had received offers as high as RM1.68 billion.
This was in response to MCA president Wee Ka Siong’s claim that the evaluation of the property carried out by industry players in Hong Kong valued it at HK$1.6 billion, and not RM1.6 billion.
“This is the proof, that the offer was indeed RM1.68 billion. I regret Wee’s statement of accusing me of lying and calling me to step down as finance minister. If he has the dignity, he should be the one stepping down now,” he said.
Lim further explained that the RM1.68 billion offer was even before an open tender has been conducted, which is expected to be done in the coming months, and is higher than the RM1.1 billion offer received by Barisan Nasional through direct negotiation previously.
“We believe this price will be higher than the RM1.68 billion once the open tender process is conducted,” he said.
