Isa Samad to be charged today over hotel purchase by FIC
PUTRAJAYA: Former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad will be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today in connection with a hotel purchase by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission ( MACC), in a statement carried by Bernama yesterday, said Mohd Isa, who is also a former member of the FIC Board of Directors and former FIC director, would be charged at 9 am today.
“The MACC has obtained permission from the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers to charge Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad in court tomorrow,” it said.
According to the commission, Mohd Isa was at the MACC headquarter here yesterday to sign a letter of undertaking on his presence in court today.
Mohd I sa a r rived at the MACC headquarters at 10.45am, accompanied by his wife, Puan Sri Bibi Sharliza Mohd Khalid, and were seen leaving the building about 20 minutes later.
On Aug 30, MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations), Datuk Seri Azam Baki reportedly said the public prosecutor was ‘weighing up’ charges against Mohd Isa on the hotel purchases by FIC.
On June 21, 2017, Mohd Isa and his wife were called up by MACC to record their statements to MACC Putrajaya, following which a new investigation paper was opened by MACC over the purchase of hotels by FIC in Kensington, London, and Kuching between 2013 and 2015.
It was claimed that FIC had acquired the hotel in Kensington at a significantly higher price than its original value causing the FELDA subsidiary to lose millions of ringgit.
Prior to that, the media reported that a Malaysian company which handled the purchase transaction made a profit of RM78 million in foreign currency exchange within 24 hours of the purchase transaction.
The MACC said its investigation on the purchase of a hotel in Kuching by the FIC also involved buying it at higher than the market value.
According to Malaysian Reserve report dated June 29, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd ( FGV) is also investigating irregularities in investment of RM1.1 billion spent to purchase Asia Plantations Ltd.
The proposal to buy Asian Plantations was announced in late August 2014 and FGV concluded the acquisition in end- October that year for RM628 million, and assumed RM388 million in liabilities, meaning that FGV forked out a little more than RM1 billion for the asset.
Asian Plantations had 24,622ha of oil palm plantations through its five wholly- owned estates — Incoset ia Estate, Grand Performance Estate, Fortune Estate, Kronos Estate and BJ Corp Estate — all located around Miri and Bintulu, in Sarawak.
Among the major shareholders of Asian Plantations when FGV took over was Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd.