KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) confirms that the arrest of two senior statutory body officials by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for misappropriation of funds was linked to the committee’s proceedings on the Felcra case.
PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Perikatan Nasional- Masjid Tanah) said that the MACC, who also attended the proceeding, at any time could take any action against the individuals involved based on the findings of the probe by the committee.
“During the proceeding, if the MACC feels like action needs to be taken, they may do so. However, not on the recommendation of the PAC,” she told reporters here on Wednesday (June 26).
Zahir Hassan (Pakatan Harapan- Wangsa Maju), a member of the PAC, said that the proceeding has found several findings that could have led to the arrest of the Felcra senior officers last month.
“This includes the management of Semarak20 project which was at first planned as design, build and finance, however, as it progressed, the project stopped at design and build because Felcra had no financial capabilities to proceed with the project.
“Due to this problem, the government in 2019 decided to provide funding worth RM544mil for Felcra to finish the project. This finding was among the reasons for the MACC to take subsequent actions,” he said.
In May, MACC Putrajaya arrested two senior officers of a statutory body on suspicion of abusing power and misappropriating funds from the Finance Ministry for a development project worth RM1.2bil.
Mas Ermieyati said the proceeding was informed that Felcra and its subsidiaries fell into a debt trap amounting to RM1.532bil.
She added that the main factor of the debt was due to operational loss caused by Felcra’s subsidiaries through joint venture estate and Felcra Properties.
She also said that the statutory body had no expertise in developing commercial projects such as Semarak20, which received financial support from the government.
Deputy PAC chairman Wong Shu Qi (Pakatan Harapan- Kluang) said the action taken by the MACC proved the positive impact of the committee in its probe.
She also said that following the findings on the Felcra case, the committee has also found that statutory bodies and government agencies tend to venture into businesses that are unrelated to their objectives.
“This would cause so many problems. Therefore, this issue is important to be scrutinised,” she added.
Following the proceeding, the PAC has recommended that the Rural and Regional Development Ministry and Felcra must provide the latest updates on its debt repayment to the government and strategic implementation of Semarak20 every three months as a monitoring mechanism.
Other recommendations include requiring Felcra to revisit its operational structure to ensure it fulfils its original obligations and drafting a comprehensive strategy to address its debt situation, among others.
The full two-volume PAC report can be found on www.parlimen.gov.my/pac
