Shahril denies Saudi Arabia job was due to 1MDB-PetroSaudi partnership

PETALING JAYA: Prasarana Malaysia Bhd's former CEO Shahril Mokhtar has come out to deny that the 807 million riyal (RM796 million) Arafah-Mina Metro System job bagged by the group under his stewardship, had anything to do with 1Malaysia Development Bhd's (1MDB) former partnership with PetroSaudi International.
In a tweet from his account earlier today, Shahril said " As a former CEO of Prasarana I started d venture into Saudi Arabia and it has got nothing to do w Petro Saudi."
In an interview telecasted live by TV1 yesterday, Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah attributed the win by Prasarana to the strategic partnership 1MDB had with PetroSaudi, a privately owned oil exploration and production company. He had said that the partnership had paved the way for Prasarana to bag the job.
The programme also failed to bring up the matter of Bank Negara Malaysia's formal inquiry into 1MDB for possible breaches of rules governing investments abroad and offshore investments.
In 2009, 1MDB announced that it had entered into a US$2.5 billion joint venture partnership with PetroSaudi, meant to open new doors for foreign direct investments.
This joint venture was called to question following allegations by website, the Sarawak Report, that Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low had used the joint venture as a front to siphon US$700 million.
Low has since denied the allegations. In a report by AFP, Low had stated that he was "consulted" on the deal "but has never been involved in criminal acts with respect to this transaction".
In March, PetroSaudi also released a statement on its website rejecting suggestions of wrongdoing in its partnership with 1MDB.
"All the capital invested by 1MDB has been returned – with profits," PetroSaudi had said.