Datuk Seri Rina Harun, Minister of the Women, Family and Community Development recently paid off her million-ringgit debt. This however, sparked questions from the opposition about where her wealth came from.
DAP’s Canning assemblywoman Jenny Choy stated that Datuk Rina’s wealth was suspicious based on her asset declaration to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). The asset declaration list has been published for public view.
According to Choy’s calculations, it would take Datuk Rina 40 months to gather enough funds to settle the debts, and that is if her income remained unchanged since 2019 and she did not spend any money on anything else. PKR MP Fahmi Fadzil also commented on Datuk Rina’s cumulative salary over the past 33 months should only be RM1,054,000 as two months’ salary had been deducted for the Covid-19 fund following the Cabinet’s declaration last year.
Choy questioned if Datuk Rina had made a false declaration of her assets in 2019, stating that she “owes the people an explanation” as a Cabinet minister and a public servant. PKR MP Fahmi Fadzil however, only congratulated Datuk Rina on being able to settle her debt.
On 16th February, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) quoted Mark Ho, the lawyer representing French production company Sarl Novovision saying Datuk Rina had settled her debts last week. He did not disclose the full amount, merely stating they had received a cheque on 10th February and cleared it the following day.
The French company initially filed a suit against Datuk Rina on 8th November 2018 and demanded she settle her debt by 31st July 2019. Apparently, Datuk Rina had been a director of the Eurofine (M) Sdn Bhd, Fine Mobile Network Sdn Bhd and Fine TV Network Sdn Bhd. The three companies had bought several films, comedy shows and documentaries from Sarl Novovision between 2011 and 2013.
After the companies were closed down in December 2013 and August 2015 respectively, Datuk Rina and another company director, Ida Rahayu Md Noor entered into a guarantee agreement with Sarl Novovision in May 2014, that they would personally and jointly undertake all liabilities of the companies. On 17th November 2020, Datuk Rina was served a bankruptcy notice of RM1,340,642.02 as of 17th November 2020.
Sources: Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today, The Star Online
