The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will open a new investigation paper on the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), according to its chief commissioner Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad.

He said the move followed a new lead in an issue involving Felda received by the commission recently.

“I have instructed for a new investigation paper to be opened and we will issue a press statement on the matter very soon,” he told a media conference after attending the Anti-Corruption Revolution Movement programme at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday.

Dzulkifli, however, said the investigations into the alleged corruption and abuse of power at Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) are still ongoing.

The FGVH management crisis reached its peak when its group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad and the group CFO Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha, together with two other senior members of the management team, were suspended and given leave of absence on June 6 pending a probe of certain deals under Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd, which is a subsidiary of FGVH.

On June 7, the government appointed former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala to oversee the decision and to recommend a way forward for FGVH.

On June 20, FGVH announced the resignation of its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, while the government announced the appointment of Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob as acting FGVH chairman with immediate effect.

In another development, Dzulkifli said only the governments of Penang, Selangor and Kelantan had yet to take the pledge and sign the Corruption-Free Pledge introduced by the commission early this year. — Bernama