FGV has referred the cases of suspended group president Datuk Zakaria Arshad and group chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha to a domestic inquiry panel.
KUALA LUMPUR: Safitex Trading LLC'S long outstanding debt owing to Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd's (FGV) subsidiary Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd increased to US$11.7mil (RM50mil).
Bloomberg reported that PricewaterhouseCooper's (PwC) statutory financial audit for financial year ended December 2015 reported on long outstanding debts of Safitex Trading LLC amounting to US$8.3mil to Delima Oil. FGV owns 72% of Delima Oil.
It said the amount resulted in impairment exposure, according to emailed statement.
However, the balance increased to US$11.7mil and exceeded allocated credit limit per PwC’s statutory financial audit for FY ended December 2016
Bloomberg also reported FGV's board had on April 20 instructed an internal audit team to carry out investigation of matter and detected potential contraventions of group policies
The wire report said that transactions with Safitex involved sale of edible oil and fats to Dubai-based Safitex, meant for delivery to Afghanistan market.
To recap, FGV group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad and the chief financial officer (CFO) Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha were given leave of absence since Tuesday pending investigations on certain transactions under Delima Oil.
On Tuesday, FGV chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad had told a packed press conference that the decision to ask Zakaria to go on a leave of absence was to enable FGV’s internal auditing team to further probe the purported wrongdoing involving several million ringgit from Delima Oil-Safitex business deals, including default in payment.
“This matter was highlighted to us based on the findings of four investigations by our external audit firm some time back,” Isa qas quoted saying.
“No time frame has been set for this investigation, but we will issue a show-cause letter to Zakaria once it is completed,” he had said, adding that Zakaria will then get an opportunity to defend himself.
Isa had also maintained that the decision to suspend Zakaria was by the FGV board of directors and “not by him alone”.
The board’s decision came a day after Zakaria was told to resign by Isa following a series of board meetings since May 31, concerning delayed payments owed to Delima Oil by Safitex, an Afghan company with an array of businesses and headquartered in Dubai.
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