KUALA LUMPUR (June 6): The number of officers who has received notices of indefinite leave of absence from Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd's (FGV) board of directors has now increased to four.
Recipients of the notice, effective immediately, now include the heads of two FGV’s subsidiaries — Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd senior general manager Kamarzaman Abd Karim and FGV Trading Sdn Bhd CEO Ahmad Salman Omar.
Earlier, FGV group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad and group chief financial officer (CFO) Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha received the same notice as well. Zakaria, 57, took up his current post on April 1, 2016.
The individuals were found to be involved with “improprieties” by its external auditors PwC Malaysia, in relation to the delay in payment and delivery of goods between Delima Oil and a long-time Afghan-based customer, Safitex.
FGV non-executive chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad said the decision to forced those implicated to take leave, came after Zakaria refused to resign when asked personally by Isa.
“It is the board’s view that he resigned so that the finding does not escalate into a bigger issue that would taint FGV’s image. But this does not mean we are covering it up. We did not force him to quit,” Isa told a media conference at Menara Felda here today.
“After he (Zakaria) declined (to resign), we still have not made a formal accusation. But since then, he has jumped the gun with his statements to the media. So, they will take their leave and the audit committee will conduct an internal investigation,” he said.
As of now, the investigation is being conducted by FGV’s internal audit committee, where Isa is also a member. No deadline has been given for both the absence of leave and the internal audit investigation.
“They can challenge the accusation after the investigation is complete, and a show cause letter is issued,” said Isa. He did not reveal any details on what sort of improprieties have been found by its auditors, but mentioned it “involves many millions of ringgit”.
“I cannot share the initial finding by PwC, as I was not given the mandate to do so; my lawyer said I am not to disclose [the details now], but it involves topics like credit limit as an example,” Isa added.
When asked if the decision was made in a rush, Isa said it is “normal practice” for companies to request members who are under investigation to take leave of absence to ensure smooth investigation.
Isa dimissed claims he is also implicated in the improprieties, as he is a board member in Delima Oil.
“I am not involved in business transactions. This [investigation] touches on business transactions. Let us investigate,” he said.
Isa added FGV and himself does not have any issue if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) decides to conduct its own investigation. "Zakaria himself can request MACC to investigate, if he wants."
In the absence of the four officers, FGV has formed a board executive committee comprising two FGV directors, Datuk Dr Omar Salim and Datuk Mohd Zafer Mohd Hashim, as well as head of logistics cluster Azman Ahmad to take over the responsibility to perform the functions of the group presiden and CEO.
At the same time, FGV’s plantation sector group financial controller Aznur Kama Azmir will serve as interim CFO.
At 2.58pm, FGV shares were down 13 sen or 7.51% at RM1.60, with 69.3 million shares traded, bringing it to a market capitalisation of RM5.84 billion.