‘Everything will be exposed’

Pakatan Rakyat has threatened to scrutinise Felda and make its accounts public when it comes into power.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat is not in power yet but it has already issued a warning to Felda: When it comes into power, it will look at Felda with a fine toothcomb. And all its wrong-doings will be exposed.

Supreme council member Tan Kee Kwong promised that a Pakatan government would not stop at anything to scrutinise the plantation agency’s alleged discrepancies.

“We will be very open and transparent. When we are in charge of Putrajaya, we will table Felda’s accounts (in Parliament).”

“If there are any irregularities, then we will let the people in charge answer for them,” he told FMT.

Tan said this as a challenge to Felda’s RM200 million suit against PKR organ, Suara Keadilan.
In June last year, Tan had claimed that Felda’s cash reserves had dropped to RM200 million from RM4.5billion in 2004.

Later that month, Suara Keadilan ran a headline claiming that Felda was bankrupt, and questioned the agency’s management of its oil palm plantations.

Unimpressed, the agency then filed its suit against the newspaper, naming party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and the-then deputy president Syed Husin Ali as the defendents.

As the former deputy minister of land and cooperatives from 1999 to 2004, Tan accused Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak of “destroying” Felda.

He demanded that Najib produce an answer over allegations that that Felda borrowed more than RM6 billion of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) money to pay off its debts.

“You must tell us: What are the terms of this alleged loan? What is it for? What is the interest (involved) and how long will the loan (be for)?” Tan asked.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Ahmad Maslan previously acknowledged Felda’s falling cash reserves.

He said that Felda saw its reserves drop from RM4.08 billion in 2004 to RM1.35 billion in 2009.

Nevertheless, Ahmad defended the agency’s position, saying that Felda’s reserves were stable, and that it had assets totalling RM12.2 billion.