Calling this “an interim stop-gap measure”, The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) said the move held no long-term solutions to Felda’s woes.
“Until today, it remains undisclosed to the public as to which audit firm has been appointed, whether the auditors involved are independent, and what are the terms of their appointment.
“The public was only told that the external auditor is expected to complete the audit within 30 days and that a full report would then be submitted to the Prime Minister’s Department,” C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel said in a statement.
She added that there had been no word on whether the report would be tabled in Parliament.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the appointment of an external audit firm to conduct a forensic audit on the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project, which is being developed by Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd (SPSB).
This followed reports in December that Felda was at risk of losing ownership of a strategic piece of land on Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur, estimated to be worth RM200 million, when it was believed to have been transferred through a “dubious deal” in 2015.
The land transfer was believed to have occurred when Felda subsidiary Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) appointed a local company as the primary developer on June 3, 2014 and it was given full power of attorney to develop the land.
Noting that Felda had been placed under Najib’s purview in 2004, Gabriel said the public needed to know whether the process of appointing the external auditor was free from conflict of interest.
“The fact that the external auditor reports to, and that their report would be submitted to, the Prime Minister’s Department alone also raises issues of transparency in the probe into the whole scandal.
“This cannot be another tale of yet another scandal kept secret,” she said.
Gabriel urged Najib to inform the public how the Prime Minister’s Department had been unable to detect such “glaring fraud” in Felda’s management, adding that the forensic audit report must be released for public scrutiny.
She said statutory bodies and GLCs performing commercial functions such as Felda should likewise be subjected to public scrutiny.
“The tabling of Felda’s aggregated annual report in the Dewan Rakyat alone is insufficient,” she added.
She also recommended that Malaysia consider establishing an ombudsman’s office that would allow investigations to be carried out into the actions of government organisations and statutory bodies.