Proton – the Empire Strikes Back?

Be advised that this is a piece of pure fantasy.
Remember the time in the 70s that Malaysia raided the London Stock Exchange and gained control of the plantation giants from the British?

Guthrie and Harrisons&Crosfield were all brought back under Malaysia’s control. It created history of some sorts and today all the plantation companies are under Malaysian control and operating with good profit margins.

Perhaps the Proton BoD believed that business in Europe could be controlled as in Malaysia and adopted the lessons from the plantation companies exercise. No one else would have paid so much for a company and also take over such massive debts unless there were some definite assets that had been properly evaluated.

At the time the famous dawn raid was conducted I am sure there were some foreign bankers who were upset and offended by such ungentlemanly conduct and many were waiting for the chance to get even.

So when the loan become due, there could have been a “conspiracy” for all the bankers to gang up and allow one of their members to get MV Augusta for just one Euro.

After all the Mafia does operate in Italy.

Do you think the Proton BoD is going to tell everyone the whole story of why they took over Augusta in the first place? Sure the headline at the time would have sounded impressive, “Proton expands overseas, et all.”

As for the eight questions posed, they could be a mirror reflection of questions that should also be asked why Proton went rushing into such a losing investment.

Graphics: malaysiakini