A non-governmental organisation has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against Felda Holdings Berhad, a government-linked company (GLC), for alleged misuse of power.
The 1Malaysia Graduate Youth Club chairman Tan Kian Soon submitted a 50-page memorandum to the MACC containing the allegation and naming four individuals from the GLC connected to the scandal. The memorandum was received by MACC senior officer Azlin Mohd Ali.
According to club secretary-general Ezaruddin Abd Rahman, Felda Holdings, through its subsidiary, has allegedly awarded a RM160 million contract by direct negotiation method to a company chaired by an individual who is also a board member of the subsidiary.
He said the individual is also one of the inventors of the processing machines supplied to the subsidiary under the contract.
“Not only did the award of jobs to the subsidiary of a public-listed company not follow the parent company's tender procedures, the machines supplied by the contractor were also giving operational problems to the mills involved," he said.
Felda Holdings Berhad, one of Malaysia's largest agro-based enterprises which run the commercial business related to the Federal Land and Development Authority (FELDA).
Its largest shareholder is the Felda Investment Co-operative which holds 51% ownership of equity, with Felda holding the remaining 49% equity. The Minister of Finance Incorporated has one Golden Share.
Ezaruddin said the government must view the matter seriously and investigate the matter thoroughly as it involved officers of a GLC allegedly providing misleading information for their own benefits.
“By making this report we hope to address the people’s problems. We received lots of complaints on this and it is also widely discussed in the blogs. Certain individuals in the GLC have brought losses to the company,” he said, adding that a copy of the memorandum was also submitted to the Prime Minister's Office.
Ezaruddin said the club was established on Nov 10 and has 8,000 members to date, comprising professionals like lawyers and company directors.
Attempts by theSun to contact Felda Holdings were unsuccessful as its public relations officer was not in the office.
Kelab Belia Graduan 1Malaysia wants the authorities to investigate if a subsidiary of Felda Holding Bhd can award tenders worth RM160mil to a single contractor through direct negotiation.
Club secretary-general Ezaruddin Abd Rahman claimed that direct negotiations were against Felda Holding’s tender procedures that stipulated that open tenders should be called for jobs worth over RM50,000.
The group had alleged in a 50-page memorandum that four members of Felda Holdings board of directors had abused their powers.
Copies of the memorandum were submitted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency and the Prime Minister’s office here on Monday.
“We believe some board members have vested interest in the projects that involved purchase of continuous steriliser machines.
“Based on a pilot project in Pasoh Palm Oil Mill in Negri Sembilan that started in 2006, we have received complaints that the machines delayed the processing procedure,” he said.
He claimed that RM5.5mil pilot project in Negri Sembilan did not yield the desired result, but the board was keen on expanding the project to other locations.
Ezaruddin said the Prime Minister must be alerted of the discrepancies in such government-linked companies. “We know certain quarters will try hard to block this information from the Prime Minister,” he said.
MACC assistant superintendent Azlin Mohd Ali, who accepted the memorandum, said they would look into the complaint.
Also present were club chairman Tan Kian Soon and his deputy chairman Najieb Mokhtar.
The club that was set up on Sept 10 has more than 8,000 members, all of whom are young professionals. “We have set up a secretariat to monitor discrepancies in GLCs,” he said, adding that information could be sent to admin@graduan1malaysia.com
Felda Holdings officials could not be contacted for comment.
It is learnt that Felda Holdings group managing director Datuk Mohd Bakke Salleh is currently abroad.
