KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — Felcra Berhad today confirmed that there was no sale of the company’s oil palm fruit processing factories as claimed by some parties, and that they are still operating as usual.

Felcra Berhad chief executive officer Datuk Idris Lasim said the company’s management also confirmed that no proposal to sell such factories had been submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.

"The management of Felcra Berhad also denied any allegations on social media linking the chairman of Felcra Berhad Datuk Seri Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub with the sale of the factory to any party,” he said in a statement today.

He said until now, there are five oil palm fruit processing factories that are fully owned and managed, namely the Perak Seberang Palm Mill - Perak, the Maran Palm Mill - Pahang, the Sungai Melikai Palm Mill - Johor, the Bukit Kepong Palm Mill - Johor and the Felcra Palm Mill Nasaruddin - Silver.

Yesterday the media reported that Felcra chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub denied the allegation that he had sold a Felcra factory to a non-Bumiputera company and was ready to be investigated.

Ahmad Jazlan also challenged the party making the accusation to report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The accusation was allegedly made by Bersatu information bureau committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegu Bard, earlier and he repeated it in the Nenggiri state by-election campaign in Sg Asap, here yesterday.

Chegu Bard was quoted as claiming that there was an attempt to transfer a factory owned by Felcra located on land owned by the state government to a non-Bumiputera company.

Idris said Felcra Berhad will continue to serve the community and ensure that the interests of all parties involved are always prioritised in order to strengthen its position in the agricommodity manufacturing industry and further contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country as a whole.

In the statement, Idris also said that Felcra Berhad is a corporate company wholly owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated) and is under the supervision of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.

It carries out several main activities in its business that focus on rural development, namely farming through land consolidation and rehabilitation programmes and also developing land commercially and venturing into the field of agro-food.

After being corporatised for 27 years, it has managed to distribute more than RM8.11 billion in profit to nearly 107,000 participants throughout Malaysia. — Bernama