Come and see ‘land grab’ plots, Tee Yong told

Come and see ‘land grab’ plots, Tee Yong told

By Ida Lim

December 05, 2012

Malaysian Insider-- Side Views 

Chua was challenged to pursue reparations for Selangor if it can be shown that BN parties had profited from the 24 plots of land involved. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 ― DAP’s Tony Pua today invited MCA’s Datuk Chua Tee Yong to visit the 24 plots of land in Selangor that were allegedly sold to the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in a suspected multi-million land grab scandal. Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers previously claimed that the land was sold to BN parties for below market price during their rule in the state, but BN representatives have since rebutted the allegations by saying that the coalition had used the land solely for the community.
“It is critical for Datuk Chua to agree to the joint site visits to prove that there is no element of corruption and abuse of power by BN in the award of these land to themselves and, more importantly, (that) there was zero element of profit resulting from the above transactions,” Pua said in a statement today.
Pua said the joint visits with Chua are intended to determine if the land was used by BN component parties for the community or otherwise sold or developed commercially for profit.
“The joint bi-partisan visits to the 24 sites will confirm if the land given to Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan were indeed utilised for the ‘community’ or were they a clear cut abuse of power to profit the party and its cronies.”
The visits would also be used to find out how much profit was made, if any, by the BN parties from the land, of which 23 plots are commercial land, Pua said.
“And if the bi-partisan visits are able to prove that Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan have profited hundreds of millions of ringgit from these ‘land scandals’... Datuk Chua must declare that all the unethically obtained profits must be returned to the Selangor state government for the benefit of her citizens,” Pua added.
Yesterday, DAP lawmakers had in a site visit to one of the 24 plots of land, revealed that Selangor Umno had sold off a two-acre parcel of prime land to a condominium developer instead of building community centres there for local residents.
Pua had said the plot in Kelana Jaya was sold to Selangor Umno at RM1 per square feet or a total of RM87,000, far below the market value of RM17.5 million.
During the site visit, he also said the gross development value of the 200-unit condominium was over RM900 million, with each unit costing some RM450,000.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh, who was also present at the site visit, said when PR took over Selangor after Election 2008, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had put an immediate stop to the sale of any land to political parties and politicians.
Selangor backbenchers had alleged last month that BN parties Umno, the MCA, MIC and Gerakan were sold a total of 24 pieces of land, collectively worth RM300 million, in seven of nine districts in the state at merely RM1 per square foot during BN’s rule between 2000 and 2008.
They alleged that of the 24 plots, 15 are now owned by Umno branches or divisions, with six of them going to the Sungai Besar Umno division, which was led by former mentri besar Dr Khir Toyo.
Also implicated in the scandal are former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, together with a S. Subramaniam and the late Tan Sri S.O.K. Ubaidullah, one of the MIC’s founders, who were allegedly named as the trustees for a 2,832 square metre plot in Kuala Selangor.