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 their 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 their knowledge.
“The Felda and FIC boards cannot be collectively held accountable as it was the FIC board which was responsible, not Felda.
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"We (Felda) handed them the land to be developed. The transfer of its ownersip is a big issue which should have been brought to the Felda board’s attention,” he said, adding that the measures which led 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 (SP) 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.
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) board member, Shamsuddin Othman, said it was the FIC board which had been negligent in carrying out their duties, and had misrepresented and disregarded the interests of Felda and FIC when the land transaction happened. Pic by NSTP/ZAIN AHMED
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.
It was reported that the KLVC project was being developed by SP on Felda land estimated to be worth RM1 billion, significantly higher than the RM270 million it was sold for.
Following the audit report, Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad said Felda would set up a special committee to investigate the matter.
He said the committee has been given three months to complete the investigation and present its findings to the board.
The Prime Minister’s Department had on Thursday issued a statement saying that Felda had been instructed to take disciplinary and legal action against those named in the report, over their negligence in carrying out their duties, and misrepresenting and disregarding the interests of Felda and FIC.
Meanwhile, Isa when contacted yesterday said he had nothing to do anymore with Felda.
“You have to ask the (current) Felda chairman. I don’t want to comment,” he said before hanging up when asked to respond to the audit report.
Isa was Felda chairman from 2011 to January 2017, chairman of FELDA Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) from Jan 1, 2011 to Jun 19 2017 and FIC since it was formed on July 2, 2013 to 2017.
