“As everyone knows, Felda was not part of my portfolio when I served as the finance minister II,” Johari said, after he came under attack from Kadir for accusing Pakatan Harapan of policy failures.

“If it was, I don’t think that this deal would have gone through,” Johari told FMT.

EHP’s owner, Indonesia’s Rajawali Group, had sold 37% of its stake in the company to Felda.

In April this year, Felda lodged a police report claiming that the deal had been forced on it by former prime minister Najib Razak and senior government leaders through a government loan.

Najib had defended the move, saying Felda could always exit the purchase by exercising the put option to require Rajawali to buy back the shares and pay a 6% interest.

Johari today said it was up to the authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly.

“I will give my full cooperation to facilitate the investigation,” he said.

Johari said Kadir should respond to specific issues he raised when he criticised the Pakatan Harapan government, instead of raising matters that could be defamatory.

“I take a serious view of any allegations that attempt to portray me as having played a role in the EHP purchase,” he added.

“As the person in charge of communications, Kadir should know better to respond to arguments intellectually, with facts.”

Johari had in an opinion piece published by The Edge on Saturday spoke of “fundamental issues” affecting the economy, including on the future prime minister, government flip flops and the lack of clarity in Putrajaya’s decision-making process.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, the Pakatan Harapan government has performed below par in certain areas – the economy, development, policy, focus and so on. But in terms of governance, it is better. Maybe it has learned from past mistakes,” he had said.