NTT sale to Maxis still not finalised

The Cabinet-appointed sub-committee considering the sale of NTT shares to a Maxis-connected company has not finalised its report or concluded its work as yet, informed sources said.

The controversial deal, first raised in The Sunday Times, triggered a huge public outcry and led to calls by the JVP and the UNP for a Parliamentary debate, is in the process of being formulated.

“Maxis will manage the company. There is no doubt about that though the buyer is a Netherlands registered investment vehicle - Global Telecommunications Holdings NV, a subsidiary of Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd which is controlled by Ananda Krishnan, Malaysia’s second richest man,” one source said. Krishnan also controls Maxis, Malaysia’s biggest mobile phone company and recently publicly sought to de-list the company from the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange and make it a private firm.

Speculation was rife that the Government had finalised the shareholders’ agreement with the Malaysian company and was signing it last Thursday or Friday.

Opposition parties are rallying together with trade unions in objecting to the deal on various grounds including alleged commissions to Government advisors, lack of transparency in the deal-making and claims of LTTE links to Maxis. The last charge has been strongly rejected by former aides of Mr. Krishnan.

The source said that while all this (allegations) may not be accurate, “the committee has one objective: it wants to examine whether the Sri Lanka Government and its people will benefit from the party that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone is selling to. The new partner should enhance SLT’s dealings with the public and make its services cheaper and affordable, not more expensive like in the NTT case,” he said.

Other sources close to the committee said that while everything said in the media may not be ‘fully’ accurate, the fact that there is media exposure and a public outcry would force a situation where the “transaction is as clean as possible.” NTT is selling a 25 percent stake in SLT out of its 35 percent share to the Maxis-connected group.