Top names may tumble over Vertical City project
Felda forms special investigation committee to conduct legal review of forensic audit
‘The job of the committee will encompass the management of Felda and the boards of Felda and FIC at the time, to see whether they were involved.’ – Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad
The Prime Minister’s Department wants Felda to take action against those implicated in the forensic audit report on the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City project. The report names people high up in the agency, and an investigation committee will be formed to look into it. The national settlers’ association is also looking for answers in the case of the allegedly dubious deal involving Felda’s land in Jalan Semarak.
KUALA LUMPUR: An investigation committee will be set up by Felda to conduct a legal review of the forensic audit on the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project.
Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad, who announced the formation of the committee, said that it will be chaired by Felda board member Datuk Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din and assisted by a legal firm.
He said the KLVC issue started with the signing of the development agreement in June 2014, so this meant the committee will be checking on the officers and board in Felda and Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) from that time.
When he was asked if this meant that it would include the chairman at that time, Shahrir replied: “The board of Felda usually means including its chairman.”
Asked again if this included former Felda chairman Tan Sri Isa Abdul Samad, he said: “If you check, what would you find?”
Pressed by reporters if this meant right to the top, he replied: “Yes.”
Isa was Felda chairman from January 2011 to January 2017.
Shahrir said the maximum time given to this committee is three months, and after that it will report back to the Felda board.
“Only then will action be taken, whether against officers of Felda or FIC, or against the board members of Felda or FIC at the time, if there is legal action required against them,” Shahrir told a press conference here last night.
He earlier chaired the meeting to discuss the recommendations made by the audit team following the forensic audit on the KLVC project.
Asked whether the audit report which was commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Department had named individuals who were found to have been negligent in safeguarding the interests of the government agency and its investment, FIC, Shahrir declined to mention them.
“The job of the committee will encompass the management and officers of Felda and the boards of Felda and FIC at the time, to see whether they were involved.”
The Prime Minister’s Department has told Felda to take disciplinary and legal action against those found to be negligent in safeguarding the interests of the government agency and FIC.
The forensic audit report conducted on the project showed there was non-compliance with procurement procedures and negligence in safeguarding Felda’s interests.
Felda had successfully recovered ownership of 16 strategic plots of land worth an estimated RM200mil along Jalan Semarak after it was reported earlier that the agency was at risk of losing the property following an allegedly dubious deal in 2015.
The land transfer was believed to have occurred after FIC appointed a local company as primary developer on June 3, 2014, and it was given full power of attorney to develop the land.