Something’s amiss
Postscript on what changes when everything does.
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Some of my former newsroom buddies who happen to be subscribers will be chuckling right now, seeing me keep up with the news cycle.
The newsletter was not designed for this. It was supposed to be “slow” journalism. Alas, my earnings were slow too.
Yesterday I published a piece on the boardroom tussle at NexG Bhd, the passport and identity document maker sitting on roughly RM2.5 billion in government contracts.
The big picture being a corporate feud involving men who are or were tied to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as well as names that formed the alleged corporate mafia.
Just for govtech projects, namely surveillance and identification.
First, the TLDR: NexG executive chairman Abu Hanifah Noordin, backed by Velocity Capital Sdn Bhd — a vehicle controlled by Victor Chin — and one other party, called an EGM to remove seven directors and install eight new ones.
The move came after Raya Aviation Holdings, linked to Ishak Ismail, acquired a 20.4% stake and became NexG’s largest shareholder, setting off a fight over who controls the boardroom.
Just a few hours after I filed, six directors resigned en masse, effective immediately. They cited, uniformly, a desire to pursue other interests.
It effectively paves the way for Hanifah — and the network behind him — to consolidate control of the company and concessions.
But something’s just not right about this entire episode.