Isa Samad arrested over FIC's purchase of hotels

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained former Felda chairperson Isa Samad.

According to a source, he was detained in connection with the purchase of two hotels by the Felda Investment Corporation (FIC).

Isa was detained at about 4.24pm, some two hours after he turned up at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya to have his statement recorded over the purchase of the hotels - one in London and another in Sarawak - between 2014 and 2015.

Contacted later, MACC deputy commissioner in charge of operations Azam Baki confirmed the arrest.

He said the detention was a follow-up to prior statements recorded pertaining to the hotel purchases.

"MACC is confident that there is a solid basis for the arrest, in order to complete the probe into the case."

Isa had come to the MACC headquarters with two of his lawyers, but only Isa entered the office.

Isa was replaced as Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) chairperson in June by Telekom Malaysia chairperson Sulaiman Mahbob. 

This was after Isa resigned from the position following a boardroom tussle over high-value investments by FGV. Putrajaya then shifted Isa to the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad).

According to MACC, the purchase of the two hotels by FIC at prices much higher than the original caused the subsidiary to suffer millions of ringgit in losses. 

FIC reportedly bought the hotel in Kensington, London, for 60 million pounds sterling (about RM330 million) on Dec 16, 2014, while the Kuching four-star hotel was also purchased at a bloated price. 

MACC had previously cleared the FIC of any wrongdoing pertaining to the London hotel purchase in May 2015, but re-opened investigations after new evidence surfaced. - Mkini