By Liz Lee
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s largest asset manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has accepted the resignation of its president and group chief executive, effective immediately, it said in a statement on Monday.
The announcement came after several local media outlets reported at the weekend that Jalil Rasheed was leaving the government-linked firm, which has over 300 billion ringgit ($70.15 billion) of funds under management, after just nine months.
“The Board has also approved the appointment of a successor and an announcement will be made upon receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals,” the statement said.
In a good-bye letter sent to staff via email and seen by Reuters, Jalil said he had been harassed, receiving what he described as hate calls from unknown numbers while his corporate email account and LinkedIn profile had been hacked.
“This made me increasingly worry for the wellbeing of my family. In the end, I decided that it would be unfair to my family should matters escalate,” he said in the note, without giving further details.
Jalil returned from Singapore to head PNB in October last year after a change in the country’s government led to a series of corporate leadership changes at state-linked firms.
Further changes have followed Muhyiddin Yassin’s appointment as Prime Minister in February, including at national oil company Petronas.
Jalil said that he never wavered in his principles in performing his duties at PNB and told staff to “always stay the course, never waver in integrity and always be guided by principles”.
PNB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the contents of Jalil’s letter outside of regular office hours.
(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
