KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today told the public to give Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) some time to explain their losses in Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd investment.

"I have not yet received a full report on what exactly happened. This is of course, a lot of people have a lot of questions, and I think we have to give the respective parties a little bit of time for them to come up with a formal response.

"Of course because it involved public funds, and now we are seeing a lot of content surfacing regarding the kinds of things that may have been going on. But, to be fair to all parties involved, like Khazanah and FashionValet, I think we should give them a bit of time to explain themselves,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the Madani Deepavali Open House at Sentul Depot, here.

Asked when will the public receive the explanation from Khazanah and PNB, Fahmi said "hopefully, very soon”.

"I’m not in charge of them, but I believe in the interest of the public, they should issue a statement,” he added.

On Tuesday, the Finance Ministry (MOF) revealed that both Khazanah and PNB received RM3.1 million from the sale of their shares in Fashion Valet.

In a written response to the Dewan Rakyat, the MoF described the sale as a responsible exit for Khazanah and PNB, transferring their stakes to strategic investors.

In 2018, PNB and Khazanah Nasional, both state-investment funds, invested a combined RM47 million in FashionValet, with Khazanah contributing RM27 million and PNB RM20 million, to acquire minority stakes.

The ministry noted that FashionValet’s business was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and a difficult fundraising environment, necessitating significant new capital for continued operations.