AZHAR Abdul Hamid, the former Malakoff Corp group managing director, is likely to replace Zakaria Arshad as CEO of FGV, the Edge Financial Daily reported.

Azhar resigned from Malakoff Corp yesterday. Sources said he would have been a good fit because of his background in the plantation sector.

“The government is looking for an independent, capable and strong individual with deep knowledge in the plantation sector to lead Felda Global Ventures, and Azhar seems just the right fit,” a source was quoted as saying.  

The Edge Weekly had also named Azhar as one of three contenders likely to take over the helm of the plantation giant, while the other two were former Lembaga Tabung Haji MD Ismee Ismail and Sime Darby president and CEO Mohd Bakke Salleh.

Azhar, 56, was the best choice as he would still be able to cope with the pressure to perform at FGV. Malakoff announced Azhar’s resignation as group MD effective June 30.

It named Habib Husin as acting CEO effective July 1. Habib, 57, will also remain as executive vice-president of operations at Malakoff.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Malakoff said Azhar began his career as an internal auditor in the UK British Telecom plc as an internal auditor manager from 1989 to 1991.

Zakaria and three senior executives were suspended from duty from June 6 following allegations of  irregularities in business dealings between Afghan company Safitex Trading LLC and FGV’s 72%-owned subsidiary Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd.

He, however, remains a popular figure among second-generation Felda settlers.

Zakaria provided unapproved extension of a credit limit line by Delima Oil to Safitex, resulting in Safitex’s debt to Delima Oil to increase from US$8.3 million at the end of 2015 to US$11.7 million at the end of 201, an internal inquiry found.

Zakaria had earlier said that Safitex will pay off the debt by the end of June.

On Monday, Mohd Isa Abdul Samad resigned as FGV chairman and was replaced by Sulaiman Mahbob as acting chairman.

Today, Isa and his wife appeared at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters to assist in a probe into alleged abuse of power and graft in the plantation giant.

FGV shares are trading at RM1.77 at 11am today. – June 21, 2017.