PUTRAJAYA: Finance ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Asri Hamidin is said to have been placed on leave and could eventually be replaced.

When Prime Minister and finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was clocking in at the finance ministry for his first day of work there, Asri was not to be found.

Anwar’s assistant confirmed with New Straits Times that Asri had been placed on leave and his duties were taken over by the deputy secretary-general.

Sources said he was placed on leave by the new government.

Asri was appointed by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as finance ministry secretary-general in April 2020 after the Sheraton Move.

Anwar has said there would be a team of advisers to assist him as finance minister. The team will be led by former Petronas president and chief executive Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican.