I am shocked! Totally, totally shocked!
Just because Tan Sri Isa Samad's son is being questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the purchase of a luxury hotel in London the word is already out that Tan Sri Isa is corrupt! That Tan Sri Isa is making use of his position as Chairman of Felda for the financial benefit of his own family. That Tan Sri Isa cannot be trusted to oversee the disbursement of public funds. That Tan Sri Isa has been convicted of money politics and once a crook he will always be a crook! Aisehman steady lah!
They...those bloody bloggers... are already making all sorts of insinuations upon this Tan Sri!
Come lah...do you actually think that the Chairman of Felda would stoop so low as to allow his son to make some commission from the sale of a hotel in London to Felda?
Let us not go into the whys of Felda buying the Grand Plaza Service Apartments in Bayswater, London for RM495 million when the London Real Estate Agents Savills and Knight Frank has only valued the property at RM408 million. I am sure when the London real estate agents made the valuation they did not factored in the costs of "services rendered" by persons unknown - which may or may not be friends and cronies of the head honchos in Felda, Umno and of course maybe even the Chairman himself...but these are conjectures and may or may not be the truth. There must be a simple explanation for the RM87 million that Felda paid over and above what the London Real Estate Agent have valued the property to be. Maybe Chairman Isa relied on the valuation of his own Felda people rather than on Savills and Knight Frank. Camna?
Come on lah...give this Tan Sri some respect lah!
Isa was appointed to the post by our Prime Minister himself. Would he abuse the trust put upon his shoulders by his own Umno President who have told us that he had need of Tan Sri Isa's expertise?
What those expertise are can be debated to kingdom come but suffice to say for now that until proven otherwise, we can safely assumed that those "services" seems to have resulted in some "durian runtuh" for some Umno and Felda officials. Whether this can be traced back to Isa and his son is up to MACC to verify.
And there are others who tells us that this "corruption" thing is normal behaviour for Umno politicians...and they bring up the same story about PKFZ, Scorpene submarines,1MDB and that Sharizat's husband Cow Condo business....please lah all this is in Malaysia.
It is one thing for corruption to be part of normal business transaction in Malaysia but how do you get the Mat Salleh to pay commission to Tan Sri's son....unless that commission is payable at source by Felda and that it is his father that is really giving the okay. Time will tell.
All this is for MACC to find out.
I am sure that Tan Sri and his/our Prime Minister will not interfere in the investigation. As Prime Minister Najib has said "Any misuse of Public Funds will be punished to the full extent of the law". I just hope that Najib's interpretation of the "full extent of the law" runs parallel to mine which loosely translates into : "If you do the Crime you do the Time!".
Some are still insisting that when you appoint someone who has been caught in money politics to head a GLC you are just asking for trouble. Let us see what Tan Sri was accused of doing:
The seven corruption charges of money politics and vote-buying which the UMNO Disciplinary Board had preferred against Isa are:
- Allowed his political secretary Mohd Salim Sharif to pay RM300 to each delegate from the Telok Kemang division to the Umno General Assembly on or about September 2004;
- Allowed his agents to pay various amounts of money to delegates from the Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lipis and Bentong divisons to the UMNO General Assembly on September 11.
- Allowed his agents to pay RM1,000 each to delegates to the Umno General Assembly at the Crown Princess Hotel at 11 pm on September 22 and the morning of September 23.
- Permitted his agents to pay RM1,000 each to delegates to the Umno General Assembly at or about 1 am on Sept 23 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
- Allowed his agents to pay various sums of money to Sabah delegates to the Umno General Assembly about 1 am on Sept 23 at the Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
- Allowed his agents to pay RM300 to Sabah Umno delegates at the Tanjung Aru Golf Club and the ‘Kandarah” Court, both of which are in Sabah in early September.
- Allowed his agents to pay RM300 to Kedah Umno delegates at Holiday Villa Hotel, Alor Star and Kelab Cinta Sayang, Sungai Petani around two to three weeks before the 2004 Umno General Assembly.
Now tell me if you can find any reference of Tan Sri Isa Samad teaching his son to be corrupt?
All the money was for other people not his son not his family.
They were for delegates from the Telok Kemang division, delegates from the Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lipis and Bentong divisions, for each delegate to the Umno General Assembly at the Crown Princess Hotel, delegates at the Pan Pacific Hotel. to Sabah Umno delegates at the Tanjung Aru Golf Club and at the "Kandarah" Court and to Umno delegates at Holiday Villa Hotel Alor Star and the Kelab Cinta Sayang in Sungai Petani - at various dates and in various amounts.
Again I repeat myself - all the money was not for his son or his family.
Umno disciplinary committee convicted Tan Sri ISa for being a very generous man - he has enough for himself and so he shares it with others! Those guys in the Umno Disciplinary Board were jealous of Tan Sri's popularity in Umno. I am sure that this case will never stand up in the Malaysian courts. I am sure that is why that AG idiot never prosecuted Tan Sri for corruption! See the AG is not stupid all the time...most times yes...but not all the time!
You must admire Najib for standing by a friend and giving that friend a second chance after he was convicted for money politics. Najib knows that others in Umno do it and he too do it - they were just not caught - so why should Tan Sri Isa be penalised for being generous? So Najib did walk the talk and appointed Tan Sri Isa to head Felda Global Ventures...a friend in need is a friend indeed!
And some say of Isa ....like father like son. Bapa borek anak rintek! They are putting Tan Sri Isa into the same category of other Umno leaders who seems to always have a self made millionaire son somewhere in the background. Where got road lah. Tan Sri might just have a son who is good in business! Give Tan Sri son a chance to defend himself! Put him in jail only if he is found to be guilty of profiting from his father's position as Chairman of Felda.
Though of course if his son is guilty that means that Isa Samad himself is guilty of abusing his public office as Chairman of Felda....and that means Najib has to take responsibility for appointing a man convicted of money politics to be head of Felda...and where will that stop? Will it go as high as implicating the Malaysian Cabinet...or even higher still to ...Rosmah Mansor?
The mind boggles at the possibilities.
Instead of allowing this thing to implicate Cabinet and of course, Rosmah Mansor....I suggest that MACC shoud do those "no stones unturned" type of investigation that they are so good at....and clear everybody, including Isa's son, of any wrong doing whatsoever. Can or not?
Felda chairman’s son quizzed on London luxury hotel buy
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad's son was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the purchase of the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel in London. – Pic courtesy booking.com, March 7, 2015.Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad's son was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday over the purchase of a luxury hotel in London, Malaysiakini reported.Quoting a source, the report said that it was not an arrest but that his statement was taken down to assist in investigations on the RM330 million purchase of the Grand Plaza Kensington.
MACC's director of special operations, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin refused to confirm or deny that Isa's son had been called in, the report added.
It was reported earlier that a senior Felda officer attached to a Felda subsidiary, Felda Investment Corporation (FIC), has been remanded by the authorities since Sunday. Also apprehended was an alleged middleman to the deal, Malaysiakini reported.
In December last year, FIC announced that it had acquired the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel in London to "diversify its investment assets".
The acquisition made it the first London property for FIC and the second for Felda.
Isa had also said then that the newly acquired hotel served to complement Felda's existing property, the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments in Bayswater, another hot spot for Malaysians visiting London.
"While the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments' main appeal is for visitors with (their) families or [those] travelling in a group, the Grand Plaza Kensington aims to attract guests who are looking for a luxurious yet affordable accommodation," he had said.
Isa had also said that the acquisition of Grand Plaza Kensington brings the number of hotels and resorts owned by Felda to 12.
The Grand Plaza Kensington is a four-star hotel with 62 units of guest rooms and two units of three-bedroom serviced apartments, located at Lexham Gardens within the exclusive district of Kensington and Chelsea.
It is also close to Western London's popular shopping street, the Kensington High Street.
Felda's overseas buying spree was raised by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad earlier this year, when he urged Putrajaya to appoint external auditors for all its agencies to allay public concerns about the billions being spent on investments across the world.
"We see entities such as Felda, EPF, Tabung Haji spending billions in acquiring foreign properties while others such as MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd) and Petronas have bought shares in airports and Canadian ventures also involving huge sums of money," the former PM had written in his blog.
In October 2013, Malaysian realtors had said that state-linked Malaysian firms were buying up London properties at inflated prices in an otherwise stagnant United Kingdom property market, raising fears that a meltdown could wipe away millions in public funds.
Several realtors had then pointed to Felda's £97.9 million (RM495 million) deal for the 198-unit Grand Plaza service apartments in Bayswater, London, as an example of an overpriced buy, saying that high-end real estate agents Savills and Knight Frank had only valued the property at £80 million (RM408 million) in the past few years.
Back then, The Malaysian Insider had reported that the deal was being investigated by the MACC and had been reported to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). – March 7, 2015.
Felda chairman’s son quizzed on London luxury hotel buy
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad's son was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the purchase of the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel in London. – Pic courtesy booking.com, March 7, 2015.Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad's son was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday over the purchase of a luxury hotel in London, Malaysiakini reported.Quoting a source, the report said that it was not an arrest but that his statement was taken down to assist in investigations on the RM330 million purchase of the Grand Plaza Kensington.
MACC's director of special operations, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin refused to confirm or deny that Isa's son had been called in, the report added.
It was reported earlier that a senior Felda officer attached to a Felda subsidiary, Felda Investment Corporation (FIC), has been remanded by the authorities since Sunday. Also apprehended was an alleged middleman to the deal, Malaysiakini reported.
In December last year, FIC announced that it had acquired the Grand Plaza Kensington Hotel in London to "diversify its investment assets".
The acquisition made it the first London property for FIC and the second for Felda.
Isa had also said then that the newly acquired hotel served to complement Felda's existing property, the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments in Bayswater, another hot spot for Malaysians visiting London.
"While the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments' main appeal is for visitors with (their) families or [those] travelling in a group, the Grand Plaza Kensington aims to attract guests who are looking for a luxurious yet affordable accommodation," he had said.
Isa had also said that the acquisition of Grand Plaza Kensington brings the number of hotels and resorts owned by Felda to 12.
The Grand Plaza Kensington is a four-star hotel with 62 units of guest rooms and two units of three-bedroom serviced apartments, located at Lexham Gardens within the exclusive district of Kensington and Chelsea.
It is also close to Western London's popular shopping street, the Kensington High Street.
Felda's overseas buying spree was raised by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad earlier this year, when he urged Putrajaya to appoint external auditors for all its agencies to allay public concerns about the billions being spent on investments across the world.
"We see entities such as Felda, EPF, Tabung Haji spending billions in acquiring foreign properties while others such as MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd) and Petronas have bought shares in airports and Canadian ventures also involving huge sums of money," the former PM had written in his blog.
In October 2013, Malaysian realtors had said that state-linked Malaysian firms were buying up London properties at inflated prices in an otherwise stagnant United Kingdom property market, raising fears that a meltdown could wipe away millions in public funds.
Several realtors had then pointed to Felda's £97.9 million (RM495 million) deal for the 198-unit Grand Plaza service apartments in Bayswater, London, as an example of an overpriced buy, saying that high-end real estate agents Savills and Knight Frank had only valued the property at £80 million (RM408 million) in the past few years.
Back then, The Malaysian Insider had reported that the deal was being investigated by the MACC and had been reported to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). – March 7, 2015.
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