Zakaria gets more time to explain himself

KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd’s (FGV) suspended group president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zakaria Arshad has been granted an extension to noon today to reply to the show-cause letter.

In a statement, FGV said showcause letters were originally given to Zakaria and its group chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha to reply by 4.30pm, June 20.

“The FGV board of directors had agreed to grant him (Zakaria) until noon on Friday to submit an explanation to the show-cause letter,” it said.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, FGV said its decision came after considering Zakaria’s request to shift the deadline to reply to the letter from 4.30pm on June 20 to July 30.

On another note, FGV said its chief financial officer Tifli had replied to the show-cause letter on June 20.

FGV said both Zakaria and Tifli would continue to be on leave until further notice.

Zakaria and Tifli were served show-cause letters on June 13 and were given seven days to provide a written reply pertaining to the allegations in the letters.

Zakaria and Tifli, together with two other company officials, FGV Trading chief executive officer Ahmad Salman Omar and Delima Oil Products senior general manager Kamarzaman Abd Karim were also directed by the FGV board to take a leave of absence until further notice, pending completion of an internal audit.

The Safitex-Delima Oil deal was cited as the main point of contention in a boardroom tussle between Zakaria and former FGV chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad.