Genting Plantations Denies Being Involved In The Royal Pahang Durian Project
The company said that it has lodged a report against "a false statement of fact".
By Sadho Ram — 29 Aug 2020, 06:45 PM
Genting Plantations Berhad, which is a subsidiary of the Genting Group, has denied being involved in the 'Royal Pahang Durian Project'
In a statement on Friday, 28 August, Genting Plantations, which owns 259,700 hectares of land in Malaysia and Indonesia, said that it has come to the company's attention that there is a fake WhatsApp message.
The message contains "a false statement of fact," the company said.
It implicates, Genting Plantations said, "that a person, known as Tan Cheng Huat, who is the Executive Director of Genting Plantation is involved in the Royal Pahang Durian Project".
According to the statement sent to SAYS, the company "has never been and is not involved in the Royal Pahang Durian Project" and that its directors are not the members of the board of the Royal Pahang Durian Resources Sdn Bhd.
In its police report, the company has stated that the false statement of fact about its involvement in the project is "defamatory"
"On a similar note, a police report has also been filed by Genting Plantations Executive Vice President – Plantation, who carries the same name, to clarify that he is not the same 'Tan Cheng Huat' named in the message," it said.
According to Genting Plantations, the 'Tan Cheng Huat' named in the WhatApp message is "neither a director nor employee" of the company.
Recently, some durian farmers in Raub, Pahang took to cutting down their own fruit trees in protest of the impending takeover of their land
Hundreds of durian farmers in Raub were dissatisfied after they were accused of illegally occupying land owned by the state government.
According to New Straits Times, the farmers received a warning from the Raub land office on 24 July to vacate their plantations within 30 days, or the authorities would take action and clear the land.
The state government cited growing concerns of deforestation of state-owned land to cultivate Musang King durian trees and awarded 5,357 acres of land to Royal Pahang Durian Group (RPDG) and Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Negeri Pahang (PKPP) to audit and regulate the industry.
Following the award, the RPDG-PKPP joint venture, which is linked to the state's royal family, then offered existing farmers without licenses a means of legalising their plots of land by signing on as subcontracted farmers with the company.
