KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Veteran Umno politician Tan Sri Shahrir Samad, 68, has stepped down as chairman of Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), which controls a 33.67% stake in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, the world's largest crude palm oil producer based on planted hectares, effective today.
"Yes, I can confirm that Felda hosted a very small but hopefully memorable farewell luncheon with Tan Sri [Shahrir Samad] from around 12pm to 2pm today," a spokesperson with Felda told theedgemarkets.com in a brief telephone conversation. The farewell luncheon was attended by around 50 Felda staff and led by Director-General Datuk Abdul Ghani Mohd Ali.
"Felda will be issuing a statement later to officially and formally mark the departure of Tan Sri [Shahri Samad]," the spokesperson added.
As for a possible successor to fill in the vacant Felda chairman seat, the spokesperson said, "Our organisation comes under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department. It is the prerogative of the new leader to install the new chairman."
"So far, I have not heard of any possible candidates as yet," the spokesperson said.
"Tan Sri was very calm when relaying the amanat (message) to Felda's senior staff," the spokesperson revealed when asked what Shahrir said during the farewell luncheon.
"He said he had done the very best of his ability to restore Felda's confidence among the settlers as well as the public, and he hopes that whoever succeeded him will be able to take Felda to new heights and chart the future growth," the spokesperson added.
In January 2017, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak appointed Shahrir as Felda chairman, replacing Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad, amid allegations of corruption.
During the recently-concluded 14th general election, Shahrir lost the battle to keep the Johor Bahru parliamentary seat with Barisan Nasional. He lost to Pakatan Harapan candidate, Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, who won the seat with a majority of 19,782 votes, which is equivalent to a 25% margin.
Shares of Main Market-listed FGV ended its trade 19 sen or 11.8% higher at RM1.80 today, valuing the crude palm oil producer at RM6.71 billion.