by E.S Shankar, Donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for palmed off oily affairs
I had written in 2015 about this 37% Eagle High Plantations (EHP) Indonesian oil palm public company share investment Najib con job. CLICK HERE.
Since 2015, many - the EPF, CIMB MD & Najib's brother Nazir Razak, Kadir Jasin, PKR MP Rafizi, the Guardian UK etc. - had questioned the logic of making this minority share investment. There were not only major concerns about the environment, but also the profitability of EPH and the exorbitant price Najib wanted to pay for EHP shares, at a whacking 173% premium to its listed price per share. CLICK HERE.
At first Najib tried to force Malaysia's Felda Global Ventures Holdings Plc (FGVH) to fork out RM3 billion (US$680 million) for the EHP shares. This fell apart when FGVH was rocked by several massive fraud allegations, profits plunged by 93% (since 2012) and Najib was forced to sack his handpicked crony, Chairman Isa Samad who was himself implicated in the thievery.
Najib then appointed veteran UMNO politician Shahrir Samad as Chairman of Felda, FGVH's main shareholder. (Isa Samad, no relation of Shahrir Samad, had been Felda Chairman as well.) Shahrir had for the previous couple of years been one of Najib's greatest defenders in the 1MDB/SRC $46 billion fraud. This puzzling behaviour was only understood when Sarawak Report published cheque details of a RM1 million payment by Najib to Shahrir, from money stolen by Najib from 1MDB/SRC!!!
Shahrir of course knows as much about the oil palm business as he does about brain surgery. But true to the typical form of morally, if not also financially bankrupt UMNO/BN sycophants and Najib ass-lickers, Shahrir rammed through the EPH investment for RM2.26 billion (US$505.4 million), justifying it with all kinds of dubious claims. CLICK HERE.
Well, what is Felda's 37% EPH stake worth today?
Felda's accounts will show a write-off of RM1.64 billion in EPH investment book loss. That is a staggering loss of 72% in a mere eight months!
And here are some pertinent questions (with some answers):
1. Why did Najib force Felda to invest in EPH? What was his real motive in investing in EPH which has been making huge losses, RM12 million in 2016 (Rp391 billion) alone? CLICK HERE.
2. Why has no action been taken by the IGP, MACC or Parliament to charge Najib with abuse of power in forcing MoF to guarantee Felda's EPH acquisition loan? The government should not be guaranteeing loans that benefit only one ethnic group or business!
3. Why has the IGP or MACC not investigated Najib's links and deals with Peter Sondakh? CLICK HERE. More so since MoF and Najib have stubbornly refused to disclose how much and in what or whose business in Indonesia Najib had forced SRC to invest in, from RM4 billion in loans raised from government pension fund, KWAP! Interestingly, SRC's accounts have not been made public for about 4 years.
Looking at it in its totality, there is bound to be a link between money missing from 1MDB/SRC that went to Indonesia, Najib's sudden dealings with Peter Sondakh and Felda's forced 37% acquisition of EHP shares. This link will certainly lead to massive, international money-laundering, fraud and attempts to plug 1MDB's missing billions of ringgit, at least RM30 billion, through the back-door, by none other than Najib!!!
What is for sure is that Najib and Shahrir Samad forced Felda to plonk RM2.26 billion in a way below par Indonesian oil palm venture. Felda members should string them both by their goolies and demand Najib and Shahrir compensate them from their own pockets or spend the rest of their natural lives in solitary confinement at the Bamboo River Resort!
