UMNO Youth has joined in the chorus of voices urging further probes into troubled palm oil giant Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd.

Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun said the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia should check whether any laws were broken and if so, take action against the perpetrators.

“Umno Youth believes that the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia have important roles to play as they are regulatory bodies with oversight over public listed companies,” he said in a statement today.

Khairul said the political youth wing took a “serious view” of the unfolding FGV crisis.

“The regulatory bodies must also uphold the interests of the shareholders, in particular, the minority shareholders,” he said.

Yesterday, FGV chief executive officer Zakaria Arshad and chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha were issued show-cause letters.

The letters were issued in relation to the “long outstanding debt of Safitex Trading to Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd” said FGV in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Both men have been suspended since last Tuesday pending a probe into alleged improprieties in the Safitex-Delima Oils business transaction amounting to RM47 million.

Aside from Zakaria and Tifli, two other executives were told to go on leave. They are Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd senior general manager Kamarzaman Abd Karim and FGV Trading ceo Ahmad Salman Omar.

Shortly after the suspension, FGV chairman Mohd Isa Abdul Samad had told reporters that a PwC probe into the deal had discovered several irregularities linked to corruption.

However, yesterday, two groups, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Felda task force and Pertubuhan Peneroka Rakyat Malaysia (PPRM) handed a memorandum to Isa, asking him to quit due to a separate ongoing corruption investigation by MACC.

The groups also blamed Isa for the RM13.4 billion in losses suffered by FGV since 2012. – June 14, 2017.