Media statement by Charles Santiago in Klang on Tuesday, 15^th June 2010:

Potential irregularities in FELDA needs urgent investigation by MACC

In a rather predictable way, the past keeps returning to haunt Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

This time around, former deputy Minister of Land and Cooperatives Tan Kee Kwong has accused Najib of "destroying" Felda or the Federal Land Development Authority.

Tan said Felda's cash reserves declined by RM 200 million from RM 4.5 billion in 2004 and blames the premier's mismanagement for the loss.

He further points out that Felda has paid 40 percent or RM 230 million to the developers for a "five-star office" in the centre of Kuala Lumpur, raising questions about the unusually high deposit and the possibility of the project being abandoned half-way.

The five-star office is to be built at a cost of RM 600 million by construction company NAZA TTDI.

I know these numbers are huge and after the Sime Darby financial scandal, makes it a lot harder to digest. Furthermore, Mohd Bakke Salleh was Felda Group Holdings CEO, who now has been made the new CEO for 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. His main concern would be 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.

Who is Mohd Bakke? He was appointed as the CEO for Tabung Haji on October 8, 2001 from his position as a member of the pilgrimage fund's Investment Advisory Panel.

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.

Felda was initially mooted to look into the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas as a way of alleviating rural poverty. Therefore, it simply cannot turn into another money-making avenue for the ruling elite.

I, therefore, call upon the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to initiate an urgent inquiry on the possibility of financial mismanagement of Felda and make its findings public.

* Charles Santiago, MP for Klang