“Based on my work experience with SPAD, I have confidence in the commitment of its chief executive officer (Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah) and the management team who have always engaged in administrative practices of the highest standard,” she said in statement today.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department added that the government had put in place checks and balances in SPAD’s activities and operations to prevent any untoward developments.
She said all aspects of the commission’s administration and management, including operations, planning, licensing and enforcement, come under Azharuddin and the team that he oversees.
She said as acting chairman, Isa would play his role in a non-executive capacity by presiding over SPAD members’ meetings to ensure the government’s strategic directions are adhered to as provided for in the National Land Public Transport Master Plan.
Troubled FGV made headlines when four of its executives, including its president and CEO Zakaria Arshad, were told to go on an indefinite leave on June 6, pending an internal investigation into an issue involving delayed payment from a Dubai-based Afghan company, Safitex Trading, to FGV subsidiary, Delima Oil Products.
Zakaria met with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on June 7. The next day, the agency raided FGV offices in Menara Felda in Kuala Lumpur, carting off files of documents to facilitate its investigations.
Isa and his wife Bibi Sharliza Mohd Khalid were summoned to give statements to MACC at its headquarters in Putrajaya where they were questioned for three hours on June 21.
Isa’s new appointment to chair SPAD sees him succeeding Syed Hamid Albar, who retired from the position on June 3.
Nancy said the commission, a statutory body which comes under the Prime Minister’s Department, has an audit committee and a legal department to ensure that its management always complies with the most current requirements of the law.
“In line with its role as a professional and proactive planning body and industrial regulator, SPAD has systematic and detailed standard operating procedures,” she said.
“The government has also set guidelines and mechanisms to control the implementation of infrastructure projects such as the LRT (light rail transit), MRT (mass rapid transit), Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR (high-speed rail) and ECRL (East Coast Rail Line), to develop land public transport with transparency, trust and integrity.”