Conned by the state?

Would-be home owners lodge a MACC report against the Selangor government.

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today received a report against the Selangor government from a group claiming to represent hundreds of house buyers who allege that the state has cheated them.

Gabungan Anti-Penyelewengan Selangor (GAPS) said it decided to lodge the report because Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had not given a “clear response” to a memorandum it submitted to him late last year.

GAPS president Hamidzun Hamid Khairuddin said the buyers were victims of a man claiming to be a “special officer” of Khalid. If so, he added, then the state was guilty of abuse of power and causing suffering to more than 650 people.

Since November, 45 police reports have been lodged against one Mohd Yatim Abu Bakar, the alleged conman.

According to Hamidzun and some of the 20-odd people who accompanied him to the MACC office here this morning, Mohd Yatim was often dressed in a PKR uniform. They said the buyers each paid him a downpayment of RM2,100 after he told them that the houses were for people earning less than RM2,500 a month.

The houses, costing RM42,000 each, are supposed to be in Taman Harmoni, Balakong; Cheras Intan Batu 9, Jalan Cheras; Taman Botanic, Klang and Taman Selayang Mulia, Selayang.

Hamidzun said repeated delays in the handing over of keys eventually led to suspicion among the buyers that they had been victims of a scam.

Political quota

According to the alleged victims, Mohd Yatim showed them keys to the houses when he collected money from them.

“It is not becoming for the Menteri Besar to have someone like that working for him,” Hamidzun said. “If he is really someone he doesn’t know, then how did he convince so many people that he was his aide? How did he get the letterheads of the Selangor government and LPHS (Selangor Housing Board)?”

He asked the state to return the buyers’ money. “This wrong must be made right. This is a cruel way to treat citizens who don’t have much money.”

Azlan Lam, a member of the group at the MACC office today, said he paid RM2,100 last May 15 after getting an offer letter bearing the Selangor government’s letterhead.

He said Mohd Yatim told him the houses he was offering were part of a “political quota”.

Another buyer, Azam Sakimon, said he had little hope of getting his money back. “We just want some justice from the police or MACC,” he told reporters.