‘BN HELPED REALISE PROTON-GEELY DEAL’
Joint venture would not have happened if Proton had not sold shares to Chinese firm, says former PM
THE decision by the previous Barisan Nasionalled government to sell off a chunk of Proton’s equity to Geely has proven to be a smart move.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this yesterday, adding that if Proton had not sold its shares to the Chinese company, the joint venture between Proton Holdings Bhd and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which was announced on Sunday, would not have happened.
In a Facebook post, he said when Geely took up a 49 per cent stake in Proton, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not welcome the news and accused him of selling the country’s honour.
“I am happy to see Geely fulfilling its promises. It also announced its plans to sell Proton cars (in China), as witnessed by Dr Mahathir.
“A year ago, Dr Mahathir criticised me and said he could no longer be proud of Proton after Geely was made partner.”
Najib said at the time, Proton was having problems, with suppliers not paid and 60,000 employees risked losing their jobs.
He said its parent company, DRB-Hicom, was affected by the turmoil.
“The company suffered huge losses each year. There was a drop in sales, exports were low and in terms of technology, Proton was lagging far behind. Dr Mahathir, as Proton’s adviser and chairman, was aware of the situation.”
He said therefore, restructuring was needed and the government then granted a RM1.5 billion soft loan to Proton, before the company partnered with Geely.
He said prior to the 14th General Election, he was accused of selling the country by welcoming Chinese-funded projects, such as Forest City and Melaka Gateway.