Johari denies signing deals at Eagle High meet

Former Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani has repeated his position that he was not involved in approving Felda's investment in Indonesia's Eagle High Plantation (EHP).

"I didn't sign any agreements, any guarantee documents," he told Malaysiakini.

"The investment in EHP was approved by Felda and the Prime Minister's Office. The Finance Ministry was not involved in approving the investment."

Johari added that the Finance Ministry's (MOF) team was only asked to ensure that the procedure and process of giving the government guarantee to the investment fully complied with the necessary securities in place, including the put and call option to the vendor.

"In addition to that, the MOF team also ensured that there would be a minimum guaranteed return of investment if it does not achieve the targeted returns," he said. 

"In a nutshell, the entire decision for Felda to invest in EHP was never the decision of the MOF." 

This comes after an audit into Felda's deal with EHP recorded a meeting between Johari and the Rajawali Group on Dec 14, 2016.

Malaysiakini sighted excerpts of the audit report which, among others, recorded a letter dated Dec 15, 2016, from the Finance Ministry to Felda's subsidiary FIC Properties Sdn Bhd (FPSB).

An extract from the letter stated: "For information of YBhg. Datuk, a meeting between YB Finance Minister ll and a representative from Rajawali Group was held on Dec 14, 2016 [...]."

"During the meeting, YB Second Finance Minister II have agreed for FICP (FPSB) to partially close the investment transaction in EHP with a payment of USD260 million [...]," said the letter.

"The reason for the partial closing recommendation is so that FICP can pledge its 37 percent stake in EHP to Govco Holdings Berhad as part of the financing conditions [...]

"Aside from that, it is also to fulfil Bank Negara Malaysia's requirement for the transaction payments to be made in stages as informed in Ybg Datuk's letter (51)/FICP/GL/2016 dated Dec 9, 2016."

EHP is owned by Rajawali Foundation's owner Peter Sondakh. The Indonesian tycoon is said to be former premier Najib Abdul Razak's close friend.

The audit findings appeared to contradict Johari's remarks yesterday that he was not a party to the transaction, which Felda in its police report lodged in April this year, alleged that it overpaid for a 37 percent stake in EHP.

Felda general manager Othman Omar claimed the price was deliberately inflated by almost 450 percent to RM2.3 billion when it was valued at only RM440 million at the time of purchase.

Yesterday's remarks were sparked off by a blog post by veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin who expressed his belief that Johari may be involved in some corporate takeovers involving government-linked companies and agencies, including the transfer of assets in Felda and FGV Holdings Berhad. - Mkini