Deputy minister lied in Parliament, claims Anak

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan perjured the Dewan Rakyat during Question Time yesterday, claims PAS-linked settlers NGO Anak.

"I followed yesterday's debate in Parliament when he was answering questions.

"Ahmad Maslan (left) lied in Parliament, when he said that not even an inch of the settlers' interests will be touched in the listing of Felda Global Ventures (FGV)," Anak chairperson Mazlan Aliman told reporters at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

He was accompanied by PAS Bureau for Land and Territory Development deputy chief Razman Zakaria and the bureau's economic adviser Rosli Yaakob

“Some have questioned my credibility, and now I bring two economists with me who can explain the issue,” Mazlan said.

As proof of his claim Mazlan (right) brought copies of documents he claimed originated from a meeting of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) management board.

The documents detail a plan to transfer shares from the Felda Settler's Cooperative (KPF) through various entities to allow for FGV's listing, bypassing the cooperative, and the surrender of Felda commercial assets to the company.

Anak said the transfer of KPF shares will indirectly, if not directly, represent a loss to the settlers whose cooperative KPF owns shares in FGV via Felda Holdings.

“KPF is owned by settlers and Felda staff, and KPF owns 59 percent of Felda Holdings under which FGV is listed. When (their shares) are injected into FGV, their interests in KPF are affected.

And When FGV is listed, (the plan shows that) Felda will transfer its commercial assets to FGV, indirectly the settlers will be affected,” explained Rosli.

The surrender of Felda's commercial assets to the company, the NGO claimed, will cause the settlers bound by contract to only sell to Felda factories, to find themselves at the mercy of possible FGV market manipulation.

As Razman claimed, this is because after its listing, FGV will control the factories, distribution and marketing channels for palm oil, opening the door to market manipulation, which may see the price of the commodity falling, causing the settlers to lose out.

Anak, however, stressed that they are not totally against the listing of FGV, but only calling for the move to be planned and executed well and transparently so that nobody, especially the settlers, will lose out.