Anak: Two banks pulling out of FGVH loans

Two banks said to be involved in forcing Felda settlers to sign loan forms for the purchase of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) shares have agreed to revoke applications submitted to them, PAS-linked NGO Anak says.

The two financial institutions agreed to drop the loan forms submitted by some 153 settlers, who are also plaintiffs in an injunction application suit heard in Kuantan High Court recently, Anak president Mazlan Aliman said yesterday.

He said one of the banks wrote to the plaintiff's lawyer in Pahang informing him of its decision to withdraw from the loan scheme, while the other  "is expected to do so in a while".

"The withdrawal proves that the basis of our accusations is right, that there indeed are elements of cheating in asking the settlers to sign the loan forms," said Mazlan (left).

Malaysiakini is withholding the names of the two banks pending their response to our questions.

Mazlan was speaking to reporters after a meeting between Anak officials and Bank Negara's information department officers yesterday afternoon.

Anak at the meeting submitted a memorandum to Bank Negara to highlight its claims of loan agreements being forced on more than 80,000 Felda settlers who had inked them without proper understanding, and named seven banks that offered the loan.

The banks are CIMB Bank, AmBank Bhd, Maybank Bhd, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, Bank Muamalat Bhd, Affin Bank Bhd and OCBC Bhd.

'Sign loan form, get windfall'

Mazlan claimed that the banks breached banking ethics by issuing the settlers with blank loan forms that did not specify the amount and cost of the shares the settlers intended to purchase, the amount of loans they are applying for, financing margin in percentage and other terms and conditions.

The bank loan drive is said to have started a week before Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's announcement of windfall dividends for Felda settlers on May 8 and is said to have taken place in many Felda settlements.

Mazlan said that in most of the cases, Felda managers, officers and village heads were the ones who forced the settlers to sign up for the loan, not bank officers.

"One of the popular tactics employed was to tell the settlers thatthey must sign the loan documents in order to receive the Felda windfall dividend.

"They were unreasonable... such as not allowing the settlers or loan applicants to take the documents home and not giving abundant time for settlers to consider the offer made," Mazlan states in the memorandum.

Anak economic adviser Rosli Yaakop said it would be "impossible" for the banks not to realise the difference between bank loans and the Felda windfall.

"They even offer loans to those aged 60 and above, this is a clear violation of regulations," said Rosli, a retired senior officer of Bank Negara.

Anak suspects that the settlers' lands would serve as security for the loans offered, and this matter was not addressed in the agreement as well.

"Hence, we urge all the banks to revoke the forced agreements at once, failing which we will not hesitate to summon them to court," Mazlan said.

Asked about the meeting with the Bank Negara officers, he said the officers seemed to take the evidence provided by Anak seriously and promised to direct the complaints to the bank's consumers department.

Anak is trying to stop the listing of FGVH on Bursa Malaysia, arguing that the move will do the settlers more harm than good.