Govt sold Kuching land for a fifth of price, says MP - By Joseph Tawie Bandar Kuching parliamentarian Chong Chieng Jen today submitted documents to Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) Sarawak over the alienation of 267.15 acres of state land at MJC Batu Kawah, Kuching for a private company. The documents submitted included the agreement dated March 8, 2014, under which the state government sold land totaling 267.15 acres for RM115 million. This, he said is about a fifth of the market value for the land. In his letter accompanying the documents to the MACC, Chong said that the questionable aspects of the agreement include: The price of RM115 million for the sale of the above land is grossly under-priced. The estimated market price for the above land is approximately RM500 million; and Under the agreement, the RM115 million is to be paid in kind by building the Association of Wives of Ministers and Assistant Ministers of Sarawak (Sabati) building at Jalan Bako, an orphanage in Mukah and an orphanage in Lawas. However the land title will be issued within 21 days of start of construction, and not after the buildings are complete. Chong said this means that the firm only needs to fork out less than RM100,000 for land worth RM500 million according to market value. Malaysiakini is withholding the name of the firm pending their response. The MP said that the information provided should be seen as a formal complaint to MACC and urged the anti-graft body to examine the matter as per its duties outlined under Section 7 of the MACC Act. It is also MCMCs duty to advise heads of public bodies of any changes in practices to reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of corruption, he said. It is pure common sense that such direct alienation of state land without going through the open tender process is conducive to corruption, he said in the letter. Speaking to reporters, Chong said he chose to submit the document instead of lodging a formal complaint so he will not be gagged from speaking on the matter prior to prosecution. If it takes 100 years for them to prosecute the suspect, for these 100 years nothing can be said about this issue. That is the position of the law and whether it is to protect the culprit or the whistleblower it is very questionable, he said. He added that the MACC Act states that a formal complaint is not a prerequisite for the commission to commence a probe.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 00:14:48 +0000
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