KUALA LUMPUR: Former minister Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar is set to start his first day as the new chairman of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) as early as Monday.
A government source familiar with the matter told Business Times yesterday that there was already an official appointment letter for him.
The source confirmed that Wahid was going to be appointed as the new chairman effective Monday, replacing Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid.
“Wahid is coming on board on Monday,” the source said.
Ahmad Sarji is currently PNB non-executive chairman, a position he has held since 1996.
Wahid just completed a three-year stint as senator and minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, overseeing the Economic Planning Unit.
The latter is the key agency in charge of the country’s economic planning and several other agencies, such as the Statistics Department, Public-Private Partnership Unit, Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) and the Bumiputra Agenda Steering Unit .
Meanwhile, the source said there was “no official indication” that former Ekuinas chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad may take on the role of CEO at PNB.
“He (Rahman) is just rumoured to take the helm as the CEO of PNB. But nothing has been confirmed yet and there had been no letter of appointment thus far,” the source added.
It was reported that Rahman was likely to replace Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, 65, who has been the president and group CEO since 1998.
Rahman could not be reached for comment, while PNB declined to comment on the matter.
He retired as Ekuinas CEO on February 29.
Rahman was instrumental in the establishment of the government private equity company and had been the CEO since its inception in 2009.
In May, he was appointed as DRB-HICOM Bhd’s independent and non-executive director.
Prior to joining Ekuinas, Rahman, 46, was the group managing director and CEO of Media Prima Bhd from 2003 to 2009.
He also held the post of group managing director and CEO of Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd.