‘FIC board must bear full responsibility’
KUALA LUMPUR: The board members of Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) have to take full responsibility over the Jalan Semarak Felda land issue.
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) board member, Shamsuddin Othman, said it was the FIC board which had been negligent in carrying out its duties, and had misrepresented and disregarded the interests of Felda and FIC when the land transaction happened.
He said the Felda board could not be blamed for this as the land deal was struck without its knowledge.
“The Felda and FIC boards cannot be collectively held accountable as it was the FIC board which was responsible, not Felda.
“We (Felda) handed them the land to be developed. The transfer of its ownership is a big issue, which should have been brought to the Felda board’s attention,” he said, adding that the measures leading to the land ownership transfer should not have happened.
Shamsuddin, who is also the National Felda Settlers chief, was asked to comment on the audit report of the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project, which revealed that there had been non-compliance with procurement procedures and negligence in safeguarding Felda’s interests.
Felda and FIC board members were among those named as a collective in the audit.
The management of Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd was also named as a collective.
Shamsuddin was among the Felda board members during the era of Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad as Felda chairman.
In December, Berita Harian, in an exclusive report, revealed that Felda was at risk of losing its land in Jalan Semarak here, which was worth more than RM270 million, through a dubious transaction for the development of KLVC in 2015.
Isa yesterday said he had nothing to do with Felda any more.
“You have to ask the (current) Felda chairman. I don’t want to comment,” he said.
Isa was Felda chairman from 2011 to January 2017, chairman of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd from Jan 1, 2011 to June 19, 2017, and FIC chairman from July 2, 2013 to 2017.