Brenden, the Sime Darby's spokesman, in Bloomberg

Sime Fires Finance Chief on $37 Million Futures Loss (Update1)

By Angus Whitley

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sime Darby Bhd., Malaysia's largest publicly traded palm oil producer, fired Chief Financial Officer Razidan Ghazalli and a second executive after a 120 million- ringgit ($37 million) trading loss at a unit.

A refining division lost the money on futures between October 2006 and August 2007, Sime Darby said in a statement today. Sime Darby bought the unit, Golden Jomalina Food Industries, in November 2007 as part of a merger with two other plantation groups, the Kuala Lumpur-based company said.

``The persons concerned had failed to discharge their functions to the standard of care that was reasonably expected of them,'' Sime Darby said in its statement. The two were informed yesterday, the company said.

Wrong-way bets on securities brought down Barings Plc and triggered a $550 million loss at China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp. in 2004. Sime Darby said today it has made ``appropriate'' provisions for the loss and promised future profitability won't be harmed.

Brendan Pereira, a spokesman for Sime Darby, said he was unable to provide phone numbers or contact details for the two executives, and they no longer worked at Sime Darby. He declined to comment beyond the company's statement.

Sime Darby, formed in 1910, merged with Golden Hope Plantations Bhd. and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd. in November last year. The government-backed deal was designed to create a palm oil producer controlling about 8 percent of global output.

Razidan was director of finance at Golden Hope, which owned Golden Jomalina, when Sime Darby said the trading loss was incurred.

Muhammad Mohan Kittu Abdullah, the second person fired for the losses, was general manager of Golden Jomalina at the time, Sime Darby said. He was dismissed as Sime Darby's vice president of downstream and biofuel, according to the statement.

Forensic accountants investigated the trading loss and submitted a report this year, Sime Darby said. The company's directors discussed the report on May 28, it said.