Malaysian government continues Felda investigation without orders to delay or stop

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Felda investigation continues without interruption

Highlights

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stressed that no instructions had been issued to stop or delay the investigation into alleged misuse of Felda funds.
The Felda case investigation was extended because the investigation papers were returned three to four times by the Attorney General's Chambers for further action and improvements.
The government ensures that the Felda investigation process is conducted transparently, with strong evidence required before prosecution and not based solely on losses.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Government explanation of the investigation process

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said no instructions had been issued to delay or halt the investigation into alleged misuse of funds involving the Federal Land Development Authority, Felda. He, who is also finance minister, said the Cabinet had only requested that the investigation be conducted transparently and that no party had obstructed the process.

Anwar said the Felda issue was raised during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat when he responded to a supplementary question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari of Perikatan Nasional-Pasir Mas on why prosecutions had only recently begun even though the disputed transactions took place between 2010 and 2020. According to him, a white paper on Felda was tabled in 2019, but no follow-up action was taken until the current government assumed office in 2022.

He said the government subsequently established a special task force on Felda, and the move took about a year before the investigation process began. Anwar stressed that this was not an intentional delay, but rather a matter of the time needed to complete a thorough investigation.

Need for strong evidence before prosecution

Anwar said one of the factors prolonging the process was that the investigation papers were returned several times by the Attorney General's Chambers for further action to address weaknesses in the investigation. According to him, the investigation papers for the Felda case went back and forth with the Attorney General's Chambers three to four times, and the process took around three to four months.

He said the government needed to ensure that the investigation had a solid basis before anyone was charged, stressing that enforcement action should not be rushed to the extent that it compromises the transparency of the legal process. At the same time, he said prosecutions were not based solely on losses incurred by Felda, but also on evidence of misconduct, including abuse of power and irregularities in transaction management.

Anwar said the government would continue to ensure that the investigation proceeds without disruption, while further investigative processes and subsequent action are left to the relevant enforcement agencies.

The 1MDB scandal continues to fuel discussion over who should be held accountable when internal controls, audits and checks and balances fail, including the role of boards of directors and the risks of political appointments in government-linked entities. Our earlier article also addressed efforts to strengthen whistleblower protection and the need for auditors to be more proactive in identifying early risks, in line with the focus on asset recovery actions and governance improvements.

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