Muhyiddin never got to sign annual Felda grant, says former aide

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not have time to prepare Felda’s annual grant from the government as he had to resign as prime minister in 2021, says his former principal private secretary Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad

“They said Muhyiddin did not sign Felda’s annual grant amounting to RM990mil and that was his mistake. He waived the debts but did not give the money to Felda.

“Maybe they forgot, the debt waiver was completed in 2021, therefore Felda’s grant at the earliest would have been in 2021.

“Muhyiddin, however, had to resign in 2021 as he was removed by their lot. How could he (Muhyiddin) prepare the annual grants for 2022, 2023, 2024 and so on if he resigned in 2021?” he said in a statement on Friday (July 21).

Marzuki added that the Finance Minister was supposed to prepare Felda’s annual grant.

“Was he (Muhyiddin) the finance minister then? The prime minister has no authority to do anything under the purview of the finance minister.

“I need to explain this as Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim questioned why Muhyiddin did not sign the document.

“The then finance minister had to prepare Felda’s annual grant as it is the government’s responsibility and not a personal commitment (by Muhyiddin),” he said.

Marzuki was responding to Fahmi’s Facebook post on Thursday (July 20), stating that Muhyiddin, who was prime minister in 2021, promised to waive the Felda debt of RM8.3bil.

“The debt was waived by Felda and not by the Federal Government.

“On June 26 this year, Anwar signed the Financial Service Reserve Account (FSRA) which includes financial aid of RM9.9bil to Felda over a span of 10 years,” he said.

He added that this meant that the Felda debt was not paid by the Federal Government until June 26, 2023, when it was signed by Anwar.

The past few days have seen Anwar and Muhyiddin engaged in a spat over who actually waived the Felda debt of RM8.3bil.