FGV sets up domestic inquiry panel
PETALING JAYA: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) has set up a domestic inquiry panel to study the show-cause response of the company’s group president/ chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zakaria Arshad ( pic) and group chief financial officer (CFO) Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha pertaining to allegations of improprieties against them.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia, the plantation giant said the panel, which will not comprise any FGV directors, would likely take about two months to come up with its findings and proposed resolution.
“The board had evaluated and considered the group president/CEO and group CFO’s replies to their show-cause letters and decided to refer their cases to a domestic inquiry panel.
“The board has established an appropriate panel from within the FGV group, whereby the members of the panel shall not consist any of FGV directors,” the group said in the statement.
FGV said that during the domestic inquiry process, the board would not comment and/ or interfere with the process.
“The board shall only provide the necessary announcement when the panel has presented its findings to the board and a resolution has been reached.
“This process is expected to take approximately two months,” FGV said.
FGV’s shares, which came under selling pressure last month following the suspension of four senior executives, including Zakaria and Ahmad Tifli, on allegations of improprieties in the company gained one sen yesterday to close at RM1.72.
Similarly, FGV said despite the suspension of duties, Zakaria would still be bound by the company’s code of conduct and ethics.
“The board has resolved to send a note of caution to the group president/CEO to remind him that during his leave of absence, he is still an employee of FGV and governed by the company’s code of business conduct and ethics for employees, which prohibits him from behaving in an immoral, unethical or irresponsible manner, which may or have tarnish(ed) the group’s reputation, or the reputation of any of the group’s employees and displaying insubordination or disobeying instructions received from superiors,” the company said.
On June 14, FGV’s board of directors issued and served the show-cause letters on Zakaria and Ahmad Tifli, relating to the long outstanding debt of Safitex Trading LLC with Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd.
The duo were given seven days to provide a written reply pertaining to the allegations mentioned in the show-cause letters, and would continue to be on leave of absence until further notice from the board.
A week earlier, FGV’s board of directors had instructed Zakaria, Ahmad Tifli and two other executives to go on leave effective immediately.
The leave of absence was reportedly to facilitate an internal audit to investigate the outstanding payments from Safitex Trading to Delima Oil Products, a subsidiary of FGV.
Besides Zakaria and Ahmad Tifli, the two other executives who were also asked to take a leave of absence were Delima Oil Products’ senior general manager Kamarzaman Abd Karim and FGV Trading CEO Ahmad Salman Omar.