KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 12): Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng said the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) Development had undergone a “detoxification of assets”.

Speaking at the launch of the lifestyle segment of the Exchange component of the development, Lim said that the government had reviewed the project as part of its evaluation of all government-related projects.

“The review showed that the government would be able to recover all of its opportunity cost and investment made into TRX.

“After this review, we [will] present to cabinet once we do the necessary detoxification of assets; we must allow these assets to proceed and not allow them to become collateral damage to the past excesses of the previous government,” Lim said.

He added that the review is evidence of the successful quarantine of those projects with certain issues, so that those (without those issues) that are unconnected can proceed based on market laws and international practices.

“So rest assured [that] the TRX has been detoxified; it has now been cleaned up and is moving forward as a world-class international global project,” he said.

Lim added that post the review of the project, the government had injected RM2.8 billion as additional funding for it, particularly for the project's infrastructure.

He added that this “detoxification of assets” is part of the government’s move to “exorcise the ghosts of 1MDB”, which he said had tainted Malaysia as a business and development destination.

Furthermore, he expects most fiscal reforms such as the Government Procurement Act and the Fiscal Responsibility Act to be implemented within three years.

“They (the reforms) will provide a strong foundation, [in] which Malaysia will rise up and take its rightful place as one of the Asian Tigers,” he said.

Separately, he added that Japanese investors had communicated with him during his recent working trip to Japan, their increased levels of confidence, resultant of the change in government.

He said Malaysia's first 200 billion yen of a 10-year Samurai bond, which is guaranteed by the Japanese government, is to be issued next month, with its coupon rate not exceeding 0.65%.

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/guan-eng-trx-has-been-detoxified-and-cleaned