Klang MP: MACC needs to investigate Felda

By Teoh El Sen - Free Malaysia Today,

PETALING JAYA: Klang MP Charles Santiago called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to initiate an urgent inquiry into the possibility of financial mismanagement in Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).
This follows an open letter written by former deputy minister of land and cooperatives Tan Kee Kwong to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, allegeing that Najib was 'destroying' Felda.
Felda is a government agency tasked with handling the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas.
"Felda was initially mooted to look into the resettlement of the poor into newly-developed areas as a way of alleviating rural poverty.
"Therefore, it simply cannot be turned into another money-making avenue for the ruling elite,” said Santiago in a statement today.
Santiago also called on MACC to make its findings public.
The DAP MP also questioned the role of Mohd Bakke Salleh, whom he said was previously Felda Group Holdings CEO, but has now been made the new CEO of the Sime Darby Group.
"Mohd Bakke is clearly Najib's 'man' as his appointment to the top job in Sime Darby was given the final nod by the premier," said Santiago.
"His job is to pull Sime Darby out of the financial mess (after a recorded loss of RM308.6 million) and refocus on the palm oil plantations and its downstream processing business.
"Mohd Bakke was appointed the CEO of Tabung Haji on Oct 8, 2001 from his position as a member of the pilgrimage fund's investment advisory panel," he added.
Depleting Felda cash reserves
Santiago said that in 2002 Tabung Haji was rocked by a financial scandal where the fund admitted it violated its own rule by giving over RM169 million to private fund managers.
"The fund managers lost at least RM65 million in high risk investments," he said.
Yesterday, Tan alleged that a 'five-star office' is to be built in KL at a cost of RM600 million by construction company NAZA TTDI, and that Felda had already paid 40 percent or RM230 million of that amount to the developers.
Santiago said this raised "questions about the unusually high deposit and the possibility of the project being abandoned half-way."
Former Gerakan leader and ex- Segambut MP, Tan, now a PKR member, said that Felda's cash reserves had declined by RM200 million from RM4.5 billion in 2004 and blames the premier's mismanagement for the loss.