FELDA Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) is mulling legal action against Rafizi Ramli over the Pandan MP’s claim that it is not the real owner of a luxury London hotel that is mired in controversy.

Felda chairman Shahrir Samad said FIC’s board would discuss the matter at its meeting tomorrow.

“FIC’s chairman tells me that the board members will discuss Rafizi’s allegation that there had been fraud,” Shahrir, who is also Johor Baru MP, told reporters at Parliament today.

Rafizi, a PKR vice-president, had alleged that the FIC subsidiary said to own the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel in London, FIC London Hotel Pte Ltd, was only registered on October 13.

He claimed that the firm managing the hotel, Grand Plaza Kensington Pvt Ltd, paid large sums in rent to a FIC London Hotel Ltd, but it was not listed in the UK directory of companies.

Instead, FIC London Hotel Pte Ltd, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands BVI,  appears on the land title as the hotel’s registered owner.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim refuted Rafizi’s claims, saying that documents that Rafizi cited were copies of the registration that were certified on October 13.

Razali said  Rafizi seemed obsessed with FIC.

“Rafizi has been making assumptions that he believes to be true.”

Rafizi had also claimed that FIC London Hotel (Pte) Ltd, had been struck off the BVI’s registry on May 3 last year due to the non-payment of annual fees.

FIC’s purchase of the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel has been mired in controversy, as there are allegations that it was purchased at above the market rate.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the deal and has arrested several former executives of Felda’s investment arm. – October 24, 2017.