“The documents released (today) do not prove that Felda settlers’ debts were only waived in June 2023,” said Marzuki Mohamad in a Facebook post.

“It pertains to the issuance of government-guaranteed bonds, which was part of the Cabinet’s decision in 2020. Anyone who holds the position of finance minister must sign this document, and to my knowledge, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has never been the finance minister.

“Just one look, and I already knew that the document is not an agreement for settling Felda settlers’ debts, but rather an agreement about government-guaranteed bonds issued in stages.”

Muhyiddin and Anwar have been at odds about the debt waiver scheme for Felda settlers.

At a Felda event earlier this month, Anwar claimed Muhyiddin’s administration announced that it would write off RM8.3 billion in loans granted to Felda settlers, but the move was never implemented.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, insisted that he had signed the waiver. He claimed that there were no allocations for the initiative in the 2021 and 2022 budgets.

Muhyiddin has dismissed this, stating that he would sue Anwar unless he retracted his claim that the Perikatan Nasional government did not write off RM8.3 billion in loans granted to Felda settlers.

Marzuki said that during Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister, a Cabinet meeting on Oct 14, 2020 approved a recovery plan for Felda, which had about RM10.7 billion in debt.

He said this plan included the settlement of 80% of Felda settlers’ debt amounting to RM8.3 billion, the issuance of bonds amounting to RM9.9 billion in stages for the purpose of acquiring FGV and settling Felda’s debts with Maybank and KWSP, and providing an annual grant of RM990 million to Felda.

He called on the government to declassify the minutes of that Cabinet meeting to provide clarity on the issue.

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