PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has fixed Nov 28 to deliver its verdict on the appeal by former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad against his conviction and six years’ jail and the RM15.4mil fine on nine counts of corruption involving RM3.09mil over the authority’s purchase of a hotel in Kuching, Sarawak.
Hotel purchase case: Isa Samad found guilty of corruption
Modified3 Feb 2021, 5:34 am
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Former Felda chairperson Mohd Isa Abdul Samad was found guilty of nine counts of corruption linked to the purchase of a hotel in Sarawak.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ruled that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case against the accused.
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KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad will know his fate on nine corruption charges involving RM3mil over the agency’s purchase of Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) in Kuching, Sarawak, this Wednesday (Feb 3).
High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will decide whether Isa, 71, who is also former Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar is guilty of the offence or not.
According to the court list, Justice Mohd Nazlan is expected to deliver his ruling at 9.30 am.
Isa was charged with nine counts of dishonestly receiving gratification for himself, in cash totalling RM3,090,000 from Ikhwan Zaidel, who is a board member of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd (GAPSB), through his former special political officer Muhammad Zahid Md Arip, as gratification for helping to approve the purchase of the hotel by Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FICSB) for RM160mil.
The plantation group should be delisted as it cannot shake off its stigma as a political entity IT would appear that the last straw for Felda was when Perspective Lane Sdn Bhd launched an offer to become the single largest shareholder of FGV Holdings Bhd in October last year.
Until then, Felda had been pussy-footing on a move to take FGV private. The innuendo from Felda to take back FGV into its fold was clear. It wanted to terminate a land lease agreement (LLA) between the government-owned authority and the listed company FGV to help it restructure its finances.
The agreement can only be terminated if FGV is taken private. Two months after the offer from Perspective Lane, Felda launched a general offer for FGV. At the time of writing, it has accumulated more than 54% and the share price is just above its offer price of RM1.30. If the share price continues to be on the uptrend, Felda has to increase the offer price if it wants to take FGV off Bursa Malaysia.