Critics in BN and PN unable to understand financial statements.
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli today hit back at Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) members who criticised his company Invoke Solutions Sdn Bhd after he declared his assets as part of his party’s general election campaign pledge.
The Pandan parliamentary hopeful said that he was glad to be given the opportunity to expose the hypocrisy and ignorance of his critics who lacked the courage to declare their own assets.
“Next time, go to school and learn how to read financial statements before you make a fool of yourself,” he said.
He asserted that his company’s profits in 2018 were used to fund the campaigns of PKR candidates in the 14th general election (GE14) that Pakatan Harapan went on to win.
Among these candidates was Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon who defected to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), he noted when singling the former out as a particularly loud critic.
“If you don’t want to declare, just shut up,” he said, adding it was clear their criticism was meant to distract from the fact that his rivals were unwilling to declare their own wealth.
Rafizi further said he was trying to educate Malaysia’s youth that the best way to generate wealth was by building up a competitive company capable of attracting international investors, and not by embezzling public funds.
“Kids that want to be rich, they think they have to join Umno so that they get projects. I want to prove that you don’t have to do that,” he said.
Last week, Rafizi declared he held RM16.7 million worth of Invoke shares. Subsequently, his detractors pointed out that as of last December, Invoke had suffered losses and was RM4.7 million in the red.
At a press conference today, Rafizi said his critics in BN and PN were unable to understand financial statements.
He said Invoke had two subsidiaries and that the valuation of the company included these subsidiaries, which could be sold off. However, he said Invoke on its own had been profitable since 2020, a year after it was set up.
Rafizi said this was very attractive to investors, hence the value of Invoke’s shares as of 2022. Even then, Rafizi said, the shares were undervalued at RM75 million, whereas government agency Cradle actually valued it at RM105 million.
He labelled his detractors’ criticism of Invoke’s valuation as “propaganda”.