KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — PKR has urged the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to clarify if it lent RM6 billion to the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) as has been alleged by a settlers' group.
PKR central leadership council member Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong said the EPF board of directors has to explain why it chose to lend such a significant sum of money to Felda as the agency has always been cash-rich.
"It's not your grandfather's money. It belongs to all 10 million contributors," he told reporters at PKR headquarters here today.
The former deputy land and co-operative development minister pointed out there was no reason for Felda to borrow money while other plantation companies like IOI Corp and Tradewinds Bhd were making record profits on the back of high crude palm oil prices.
He said this suggested that Felda was being badly mismanaged as the agency should be making at least RM1 billion in profit every year.
The National Association for Children of Felda Settlers (Anak) alleged last week that Felda had borrowed RM6 billion from the EPF to develop settlers' lots.
Anak chairman Mazlan Aliman showed reporters last Tuesday what he claimed to be minutes from a Felda Nitar 02's programme development committee meeting confirming the massive loan.
According to the minutes, one of the issues discussed at the April 20 meeting was an application to increase the living allowance of the settlers.
The document states that the application was rejected by the national settler consultation committee because "Felda had borrowed RM6 billion from EPF for the development of settlers' lots".
Mazlan said this was proof that Felda, a government-linked company (GLC), was in dire financial straits.
The dispute over Felda's financial status hit the headlines last June when opposition parties alleged that its considerable reserves had declined as a result of irregularities.