KUALA LUMPUR (July 3): Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) said its board of directors has decided to refer its group president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad and group chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha to a domestic inquiry panel.

FGV said the board had "evaluated and considered" the two officers' replies to their show-cause letters and decided to refer their cases to the panel.

The show-cause letters were issued over alleged irregularities at one of FGV's subsidiaries, Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd, which had dealings with Dubai-based firm Safitex Trading LLC.

"The board has established an appropriate panel from within FGV whereby the members of the panel shall not consist any of FGV directors," FGV said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

"During the domestic inquiry process, the board will not comment or interfere with the process. The board shall only provide the necessary announcement when the panel has presented its findings to the board and a resolution has been reached," it added.

FGV said the domestic inquiry process is expected to take about two months to complete.

At the same time, the world's largest crude oil producer also said it has sent a note of caution to Zakaria to remind him that during his leave of absence, he is still an employee of FGV and governed by the company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Employees.

This, said FGV, prohibits Zakaria from behaving in an immoral, unethical or irresponsible manner which may tarnish the group's reputation or the reputation of any of the group's employees and displaying insubordination or disobeying instructions received from superiors.

On June 6, FGV's former chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad suspended Zakaria — together with Ahmad Tifli and two others — and told them to take an indefinite leave of absence pending completion of an investigation over alleged accounting irregularities at Delima Oil Products.

The case has also attracted wide publicity, with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission seizing related documents from FGV's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, while the Prime Minister's Department has removed Mohd Isa from FGV and made him the acting chairman of the Land Public Transport Commission.

Replacing Mohd Isa is Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob, an economist who also sits on the board of FGV.

FGV's share price rose one sen or 0.58% to close at RM1.72 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM6.27 billion.