All money spent by Felda, accounted for: Sharir

PETALING JAYA: Felda is in the process of selling a hotel in London worth about RM543 million, said its chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abd Samad (pix).
He said the tender for the sale of the hotel which was bought in 2012 was in the process of being completed.
"There are also several other investments that Felda is looking to dispose and it will be brought up during the board meeting on Feb 20," he said.
Shahir said Fleda received RM6 billion when Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) was listed and part of the money, RM1.44 billion was used to to acquire assets for long term investments.
He cited investments in Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments in London for RM500 million, a piece of land in Bukit Katil, Malacca for RM304 million, the Grand Borneo Hotel in Sabah for RM86 million and the Institut Penilaian Negara (Inspen) building for RM220 million.
He added that RM1.7 billion was given to the settlers as a windfall with each receiving RM15,000.
Shahir said at a press conference in Plaza Sentosa, Johor Baru, today that no funds had gone missing and that the money has been spent by Felda and had been accounted for.
He was responding to reports that RM4.3 billion from the listing of FGV had gone missing.
The recently appointed chairman had said in his first press conference in mid-January that Felda's aim is to have enough money to carry out it activities to help settlers replant, provide them with money while waiting for the plantations to bear fruit, provide them with housing loans and other related activities.
He added that it was also the duty of Felda to look after the children of settlers and help them wherever possible.
He said because of this Felda was looking at disposing some investments to ensure it had enough money to carry out its activities.
One of his first actions upon taking the helm was to order the entire board of directors of Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) to resign.
He said the FIC board had thrown money down the drain as many of the projects undertaken by the company had caused massive losses to Felda.