PETALING JAYA: The government is set to table a White Paper in Parliament on the financial woes of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) since being publicly listed in 2012, according to a Straits Times report.
It said the White Paper, delayed since the end of last year due to legal issues, is likely to be tabled just before the month-long sitting of Parliament, which begins on Monday, ends on April 11.
The newspaper said the White Paper will centre on how Felda’s company FGV Holdings Bhd was publicly listed for RM10 billion, the second-biggest initial public offering (IPO) of the year and second only to social media giant Facebook, and how the RM6 billion raised went down the drain.
It said financial statements it had seen showed Felda accumulating RM10 billion in losses and RM12 billion in debt by the end of 2017.
Felda’s accounts also showed that RM3.4 billion was borrowed to finance replanting and RM1 billion was invested in estate management outfit Felda Technoplant.
The Straits Times quoted sources who informed them the White Paper included a couple of deals investigated for “abuse of power and breach of fiduciary duty”.
The most serious case was the RM2.3 billion spent to buy a 37% stake in Indonesian company PT Eagle High Plantations.
“Much of this investment has been written off as Eagle High’s share price, already on the slide when the deal was struck in 2016, continued to plummet,” said the report.
Former Felda chairman Shahrir Samad, who was appointed in 2017 and quit in May 2018, said less than a quarter of the RM6 billion which Felda raised from the IPO went into capital expenditure, and none went into replanting.
Instead, Shahrir said RM1.7 billion was given to settlers as a windfall payment, RM884 million went to cover management expenses and RM550 million was handed to the Sabah and Pahang state governments.
On this matter, former prime minister Najib Razak defended his nine-year administration of Felda, saying that most of its RM9.5 billion debt after the 2018 financial year was loaned to Felda settlers for house purchase, replanting oil palm trees and education.
Najib also clarified the 2012 IPO was a step to raise funds to replant oil palm trees after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, during his previous term as prime minister, cut off government funding to Felda.
The newspaper expected the White Paper to result in Felda’s troubles to be blamed on Najib and his Barisan Nasional government, a move which could help the Pakatan Harapan government bolster support from the Malays.
There are more than a million Felda settlers and their descendants today.
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