Carpet dealer says Wanita Umno leader cheated him in land deal

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan has dropped a bombshell on the eve of the annual Umno general assembly alleging that a senior Wanita Umno politician had cheated him out of millions in a land deal.

Deepak, who deals in carpets, said he had agreed to buy three parcels of land in 2007 for RM13 million with a RM72 million bank guarantee for a land bond from the Wanita Umno leader, who was awarded a RM100 million privatisation deal for the development of the defence research centre called Pusat Pengajian Pertahanan Nasional (PUSPAHANAS).

But she had sold one parcel for RM2 million in cash and a RM16 million overdraft facility in a “joint-venture” with another company specialising in plasticware, prompting the carpet dealer to put a caveat on the land in Bukit Raja and lodge a police report last July.

“This is my land... I want to develop it,” Deepak told The Malaysian Insider, hours after he spoke to several other news portals about the matter.

The Malaysian Insider contacted the Wanita Umno leader but she did not respond to the calls.

The 40-year-old businessman (picture) said he has written to government leaders and officials about the matter but has yet to receive a response. The police have also been dragging their feet, he added.

“We want her to sign over the power of attorney for the land... but she hasn’t,” Deepak said.

In his police report dated July 9, 2012 at the Pudu police station, Deepak said the Wanita Umno leader and her company had committed a criminal breach of trust by not handing over the land titles to him and also selling his land to another party.

He said his company Astacanggih Sdn Bhd had signed a deal on May 16, 2007 to buy the three parcels of land measuring 89.281 acres, 88.629 acres and 45.420 acres from Awan Megah (M) Sdn Bhd, which was given the privatisation deal on June 8, 2005.

But Deepak said he never got the land or the title deeds, and had filed a lawsuit in December 2011 against the Wanita Umno leader, Awan Megah, the Selangor Land and Mines Office and the Ministry of Defence to get what was due to him.

He also found out last July that Awan Megah has signed a “joint-venture agreement” with Guppyunip Sdn Bhd on July 9, 2010 to develop one of the parcels he had bought.

“I am unsure if she has sold the same piece of land to others too,” he said, adding he hoped the police would get to the bottom of the case.