KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Zakaria Arshad is still Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd’s (FGV) president and chief executive officer, and speculations of his replacement as reported by several media are premature.
“FGV still has Zakaria as its president and chief executive officer although he is on leave, pending a domestic inquiry,” a source told NST Business today.
“It’s premature to assume that there might be an appointment of a new chief executive officer for FGV, replacing Zakaria,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In its latest filing to the stock exchange, FGV said Zakaria has until this Thursday 12noon to reply to his show cause letter to the board despite his appeal for an extension until July 30.
Last Friday morning, Zakaria had submitted his request for more time to reply to the show cause letter to the newly-appointed acting FGV chairman Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob, who is also a FGV board member.
The show cause letter relates to the long-outstanding debt of Safitex Trading LLC with Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd. Earlier, Zakaria, in a letter to former FGV chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad, denied he had violated the corporate code of governance.
In a letter dated June 5, Zakaria stated the payment process and the credit conditions used by Delima were already in place, well before he became FGV chief executive officer in April 2016.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had invited Zakaria, soon after, to assist with investigation into allegations concerning mismanagement and abuse of power in FGV.
Since June 6, the FGV board has suspended Zakaria, along with three other senior executives, amid an internal probe into alleged irregularities in business dealings between Safitex and Delima Oil Products, an FGV subsidiary.
“All the documents requested were also granted and given to him today,” FGV announced last Friday night, adding the board is only willing to give him a second and final opportunity until this Thursday to submit his reply.
Suspended chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha, meanwhile, gave his reply last Tuesday to a similar show cause letter.
According to FGV, all four senior executives will continue to be on leave of absence until further notice.