Suspended FGV chief financial officer to resume duty tomorrow

Menara Felda in Kuala Lumpur. AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star..

KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) announced on Tuesday that its group chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha will resume his duty on Oct 4 after a four-month leave of absence.

In June, Ahmad Tifli as well as group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad and two other senior management officials were told to take leave of absence pending a domestic investigation on purported wrongdoing in business dealings between the plantation group’s subsidiary Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd and long-term business partner Afghan-based Safitex Trading LLC.

The latest FGV announcement did not mention the fate of the other suspended executives, but FGV had yet to appoint either a CEO and CFO as of last month. It is understood that the two other suspended executives besides Zakaria reported back to work last week.

There was also no mention on the outcome of the probe, although FGV had initially said its independent domestic inquiry panel would deliver its decision by the week of Sept 11.

Among the key events since the suspension of the four was the resignation of Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad as FGV chairman. He was later remanded by the MACC in connection with a probe into the purchase of hotels in London and Kuching by Felda Investment Corp.

Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob, named acting chairman of FGV after Isa resigned, has himself been replaced by former Malakoff Corp Bhd managing director Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid, who became chairman effective Sept 8.