KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers spent about eight hours in the Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV)'s headquarters here today and left with a trolley filled with documents, which were stacked in four yellow boxes, along with one green bag and a big folder.

"We have seized relevant evidence that may help in our probe. That is as much as I would say for now," said one of MACC's investigation officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not the authorised spokesperson.

"The MACC also copied files and folders from computers belonging to FGV employees," he added, but declined to confirm whether the anti-graft body also copied files from computers of FGV's top management.

A source revealed that the MACC officers had focused their search for potential evidence on the 25th and 45th floors of FGV's 54-storey headquarters.

According to the floor directory, the 25th floor houses FGV's Group Finance, headed by (suspended) chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha, while the 45th floor houses the offices of FGV's Group President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Company Secretary, Corporate Strategy, Transfomation Management Office, Total Quality Management and International Business Office.

At 10am today, 25 anti-graft officers from the MACC — clad in their full uniform — showed up at FGV's headquarter, which is a stone's throw away from the Petronas Twin Towers.

The source said that MACC subsequently deployed more officers, totalling 40 and led by Senior Assistant Commissioner Sazrul Shahreen, to search for documents and files. The operation ended just before 6pm.

MACC's surprise visit was conducted a day after FGV's group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad spent four hours in MACC's headquarters in Putrajaya to voluntarily give his statements on allegations of corruption and power abuse in the company.

Four hours after the MACC officers' arrival today, FGV received yet another surprise visitor when former senator and Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala stepped into the plantation giant's headquarters unannounced.

Idris' arrival was his first public appearance since being named by the Prime Minister's Office as an independent party to establish the facts of the case and to recommend the way forward in resolving the boardroom tussle between its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and Zakaria.

After spending slightly more than one hour in FGV’s headquarters, Idris walked out of the lobby lift at 3.40pm and headed to his car, while being pursued by reporters.

"I'm trying to get the facts. While I'm doing that, I don't want to make any statement because that would be very prejudicial," Idris said, maintaining his cool before entering his black car that had the number plate BFR 33, which — interestingly — is the name of the organisation that he is currently heading, BFR Institute Sdn Bhd.

Shortly after his departure, Idris wrote a brief email stressing that, "while I understand both the media and public’s interest for further details, it is premature for me to make any statements at this juncture."

The saga in FGV — the world's largest crude palm oil producer — reached a climax on Tuesday after its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad instructed Zakaria, along with chief financial officer Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha and two others to be suspended and take indefinite leave of absence, with their salaries continuing to be drawn.

This was pending the completion of FGV's internal probe into alleged irregularities in a subsidiary, Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd. The board of directors had noted that Delima had yet to recover outstanding debt that had grown to US$11.7 million in 2016 from US$8.7 million in 2015.

On this, Zakaria had said yesterday that he was confident FGV would be able to recover the outstanding debt, which was only 0.2% of FGV's total revenue in 2016.

Zakaria had also denied any wrongdoing and stated he would not resign from his post, which he is contracted to hold till March 2019.

FGV shares dropped one sen or 0.6% to close at RM1.65 today, for a market capitalisation of RM6.02 billion.