PETALING JAYA: Datuk Zakaria Arshad, who was recently suspended as Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) group president and CEO, is confident of a positive outcome to the domestic inquiry he is facing.
He is also fully prepared to abide by the independent report and recommendations made on FGV by former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala.
In a statement yesterday, Zakaria said: “In reference to the statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office ... I would like to firstly congratulate Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob (on his appointment) as acting chairman of FGV.
“I will abide by the recommendations from Datuk Seri Idris Jala’s report.
“With regards to the domestic inquiry which was initiated by (former FGV chairman Tan Sri) Mohd Isa (Abdul Samad), I am confident I shall be proven innocent and henceforth, I have engaged Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to be my legal counsel to attend to the matter.”
After he was told to take an indefinite leave of absence by Isa on June 6, Zakaria hit back via a series of media interviews, claiming he had done nothing wrong.
In an interview with The Star, Zakaria gave an ultimatum that he could no longer work at FGV as long as Isa remained chairman.
The son of a Felda settler, Zakaria – who had been with the group since 1984 – was made CEO in April last year, taking over the hot seat from Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah.
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