FIC hotel purchase probe ongoing, don't speculate, says MACC

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): There should not be any speculation concerning the purchase of the four-star hotel in Kensington, London, by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC) as the case is still under probe, said Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (Operation) Azam Baki, Bernama reported today.

“This includes statements from the lawyer and seller [of the property in London],” he told Bernama.

The MACC is still in the midst of collecting evidence from foreign parties allegedly involved in the purchase, Azam explained.

Meanwhile, the MACC had completed its mission of taking statements and obtaining documents from local parties. Felda had given its full cooperation in the process.

Azam was speaking to Bernama on the allegation made by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli that the hotel did not belong to FIC as it was owned by another company.

Earlier this week, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim has denied Rafizi’s claim that a FIC subsidiary was registered on the very day the lawmaker “revealed” that the firm does not own its hotels in London.

Razali said both Felda London Hotel (Private) Ltd (FLH) and FIC Global Ltd (FGL) were registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) but not on Oct 13 as Rafizi had claimed.

Razali said the Oct 13 date appeared when the duplicates of the company’s registration documents were certified as true copies by a London law firm called Anthony Louca Solicitors.

This was further clarified by FIC in a separate statement released shortly after the briefing that said no company was set up on Oct 13, but instead, the share certificates of FLH and FGL were certified as true copies by the lawyer on Oct 17 and Oct 13 respectively.

“FIC appointed a tax consultant to advise on the structure of its investments in [the] United Kingdom in 2014,” the firm added.