Questions for Dato' Seri Nazir Tun Razak to answer

"CIMB Group has had a presence in Singapore since 2005......... The Group has built strong credibility through its investment banking and capital markets-related offerings. In 2008, CIMB Securities (Singapore) were ranked as No. 1 Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) advisor by value and number of deals in the Mid Market segment, as well as No. 1 M&A advisor in Asia (ex-Japan) by number of deals." ~ CIMB website

What Dato' Seri Nazir and his team have achieved in Singapore is something that all Malaysians can take pride in. To be able to capture the top rank in any area related to finance and investments in one of the largest financial capitals of the world, and that too in the space of just a few years, is a feat that deserves admiration and applause.

But, there is at least one question that must be put to Dato Seri Nazir and his team.

In that same year, CIMB in Malaysia paid RM 3.393 million in fees in PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia for  Non-Audit Services, and a further 4.644 million Ringgit to member firms of PwC International for the same, while the fees paid for the statutory audit to PwC was only RM 2.84 million and 3.04 million Ringgit respectively.

That would not have been allowed in Singapore now, would it?

Will CIMB in Singapore, or any of its divisions been able to achieve any accolades if it had been found to use the services of an auditor like PwC in Malaysia, whose very registration under the oversight board is an enigma that remains unanswered to this day?


But why then does CIMB Malaysia allow all this? Does the fact that Malaysia is separated from Singapore by that trickle of a strait, mean that we can get away with standards which are miles below what is allowed in that Island Nation that was once a part of this country?

Should not the elder brother lead by example? So why then is Singapore, a nation that is younger that ours, leaving us behind in something as fundamental as corporate governance standards?

But for an entity like CIMB, which has a presence on both sides of the Tebrau Strait, to employ widely differing standards in something as important as auditor independence, just because the rules on the southern side of the Straits are closer to the norm amongst developed nations, is an affront to the aspirations of Malaysia to become a developed nation in less than a decade.