Isa to be called up over ‘dubious’ Felda land deal, say cops

Deputy IGP Noor Rashid Ibrahim says ex-Felda chairman Isa Samad will be questioned on RM200m land transferred without any benefit to Felda.

(FMT) – Former Felda chairman Isa Samad will be called up by police to record a statement on the issue of Felda land in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur, being transferred without any benefit to the government agency.

This was revealed in a Bernama report, which quoted Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim as saying that other parties would also be called up over the matter, besides Isa.

“I have been informed that Isa is currently overseas. We will get his statement upon his return,” Noor Rashid told reporters today.

Felda risks losing ownership of the plot of land worth at least RM200 million, with the land title having been transferred in a “dubious” transaction in 2015, according to a report by Berita Harian on Thursday.

In response to the report, Felda chairman Shahrir Samad told reporters that they will go all out to regain the Jalan Semarak land.

“We expect an investigation to commence as early as January,” he said at a press conference at Felda headquarters on Thursday.

Shahrir said apart from the police report lodged on Dec 12, other actions taken were registering a caveat on the land, revoking the power of attorney issued and taking civil action against the parties involved.

According to Bernama, Noor Rashid said a special task force had already been formed to investigate the matter, after the report was filed by Felda on Dec 12.

“The case is being investigated under Section 420 and Section 471 of the Penal Code for cheating and forgery of documents,” he reportedly said.

According to the BH report, the land title transfer occurred after Felda Investment Corporation (FIC) had appointed a local company as the main developer on June 3, 2014 and awarded it full power of attorney to develop the land.

It is alleged that the company had used the power of attorney to transfer the title of the land as well.

Felda was headed by Isa as chairman until January this year and he was also chairman of FIC at the time the transfer had taken place.

The land is being developed for the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project, which will have seven towers.

According to BH, all decisions to appoint the developer were made by FIC and brought to the attention of the Felda board of directors three months later.