Anak wants answers to Felda's excessive expenditure

The National Felda Settlers' Children's Association (Anak) president Mazlan Aliman wants the government to shed light on the excessive expenditure by the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) during the last five years.

Mazlan wants Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan to explain the figures he revealed in Parliament last month.

Ahmad had admitted that Felda's cash reserve dropped from RM4.08 billion in 2004 to RM1.35 billion in 2009.

According to Mazlan, a sharp drop of RM2.73 billion in five years is shocking and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak must be responsible and clear the air on this.

"According to Ahmad, RM2 billion was spent on 're-seed' and living cost expenditure, RM603 million for the Felda settlers' house renovation loan scheme, RM253 million for poverty fund in Sabah and RM662 million to build the new Felda building.

"How come you declare that Felda spent RM2 billion for re-seed when in reality, the cost for re-seed is borne by the Felda settlers themselves. It's not only for the re-seed but also related costs such as purchasing fertiliser and spraying weedkiller,” he said.

Mazlan also questioned what happened with the Re-seed Fund where millions were contributed by the Felda settlers via deduction to their earnings.

As for the RM603 million spent on the house renovation loan scheme, the Anak president labelled this as a non issue since the borrower must repay the loan with an interest of 2.5%.

He also wanted to know how much was collected from the Felda settlers who took the loan and where the money went.

Excessive downpayment

Mazlan also asked for an explanation on the rationale behind Felda having to bear the brunt as far as the Sabah poverty fund is concerned.

He also zeroed in on the construction cost of the new Felda building at Platinum Park KLCC and questioned the 40% downpayment by Felda to the developer Naza TTDI (TTDI Development Sdn Bhd).

"According to normal practice, it (the downpayment) won't be more than 10% of the total value of the full cost of the project. Felda paid beyond the normal practice.What is so special about this developer that the company has to receive such a big amount from Felda?

"We would like to know how the developer was chosen. Open tender or direct negotiations? We would also like to know how the price evaluation was done before the construction of the building contract was awarded,” he said.

The Anak president also demanded that the government reveal the earnings and profits of Felda's 43 subsidiary companies.

He said all financial records, including Felda's, should be made public.

courtesy of FMT