Ropiaah a BAD EXAMPLE for women esp Malay women until she explains role in LTAT deal - Zuraida

PKR Women's chief Zuraida Kamaruddin has called on Raja Ropiaah, the Selangor Umno women's chief, to explain her involvement in a Ministry of Defense land deal, where Ropiaah was accused of corruptly obtaining government land and on-selling it to at least two parties including controversial business Deepak Jaikishan to reap commercial profit.

According to Zuraida, the Ampang MP, the land deal which later involved the use of the LTAT's (Armed Forces pension fund) money was complex and reeked of corruption.

"So far, Ropiaah has not uttered a word. She must come clean or step down. Such behaviour is scandalous and creates a bad image for Malaysian women as a whole and for Malay women in particular. It has become a stigma to be a Wanita Umno leader," Zuraida told Malaysia Chronicle on the sidelines of a press conference.

"The entire fiasco also shows that the Umno-BN government is unable to champion the advancement of women in the country. In fact, it looks like the women in Umno-BN are just as greedy and corrupt as their male counterparts.

Corrupt Umno-BN women?

The PKR leader was referring to another graft scandal, the RM250 million NFC or Cow-gate debacle involving Wanita Umno national chief Shahrizat Jalil. Shahrizat, who was controversially cleared by the MACC, was accused of abusing her political position to benefit her family but her husband has been charged for criminal breach of trust.

There is however great cynicism that he will be let off the hook while the whistle blowers - PKR strategic director Rafizi and a bank staff - face jail terms for allegedly breaching banking rules although the information they exposed clearly protects Malaysian society from being plundered by corrupt leaders.

At Wednesday's press conference, Zuraida also called on Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor to declare her "innocence" if the allegations made by Deepak were untrue that he had bought for her 19 pieces of exclusive jewellery from Hong Kong worth US$ 3.9 million or RM13 million in exchange for Najib giving the green light to the Mindef land deal.

The 19 pieces of jewellery consist of:

> 7 diamond rings

> 4 diamond earrings

> 2 diamond bracelets

> 3 diamond necklaces

> 1 emerald ring

> 1 emerald bracelet and

> 1 ruby bracelet.

In the spotlight: Shahrizat, Rosmah & now Ropiaah

The scandal came to a boil following last week's disclosure by public-listed Boustead Holdings Bhd, which is 61%-owned by the LTAT, that it would pay RM30million to Deepak and RM130million to Raja Ropiaah as part of a much-criticized deal to buy back the government land.

Instead of being placated, Deepak went on the offensive, vowing he would continue with his 'revelations' against Rosmah and to push on with the publication of his tell-all book - The Black Rose. Deepak had previously revealed that he had paid the Najibs "millions" for the PM, who was then the Defense minister, to approve the Mindef land sale to Ropiaah. (read article DEEPAK BOMBSHELL: Wanita's Raja Ropiaah 'stole' land while Najib's family made 'millions').

In 2007, Deepak's firm Astacanggih had bought the Mindef land from Ropiaah's firm Awan Megah for about RM120 million or RM12 psf. The land was granted to Ropiaah for about RM72million or RM7psf and the purpose was to build Puspahanas or Pusat Pengajian Pertahanan Nasional, a military research centre akin to Britain's MI5.

However only 20% has been constructed but that hasn't stopped Ropiaah from moving onto another deal.According to Deepak, despite their agreement, Ropiaah sold one the 3 parcels of land to a plastics-ware firm GuppyUnip Sdn Bhd for RM2 million in cash and a RM16 million overdraft facility as part of a “joint-venture”.

"Without Najib's OK, Raja Ropiaah would not have been awarded the deal by the Ministry of Defense,"Deepak told Malaysia Chronicle (see article NAJIB'S FINGERPRINTS all over Raja Ropiaah's alleged RM400mil Mindef land scam).

Immoral  and dishonest

Deepak finally launched a lawsuit against Ropiaah and their court case was first heard in November 2012. It was due for re-mention on December 14 but a hasty out-of-court settlement was reached, with Boustead Holdings intervening with a RM160million offer.

However, the Boustead deal only created more controversy, angering ex-servicemen who expressed concern that their pension money was being frittered away to bailout cronies of top government leaders.

"In the first place, the land was originally owned by the Selangor state government and granted to the Ministry of Defense to build an army facility. But instead, a commercial centre has been constructed on part of the land. Why is this so? Furthermore, the land has not been transferred to Ropiaah or Deepak and is still in the name of the federal government. So why is Boustead using the Armed Forces pensioners' money to buy over this land," PKR treasurer and MP for Selayang William Leong had said at the press conference.

"We believe the Boustead deal was rushed through to silence Deepak and it is all the more worse because it is using innocent pensioners' money. The purchase by Boustead's subsidiary Bakti Wira of Deepak's share in Astacanggih for RM30million, taking over the RM100million Kuwait Finance House loan and purchase of Awan Megah shares from Raja Ropiaah for RM130million is not an excuse for the MACC not to proceed with investigations into the very serious allegations of corruption against the Prime Minister, his wife, Ropiaah and even Deepak."

Like Zuraida, William called on the MACC and police to probe the case without "fear or favor" describing the transactions as "most immoral".