Ropiaah to get more "backdoor" compensation from LTAT unit? EXPLAIN, Rafizi dares Zahid

PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli has called on Defense Minister Zahid Hamidi to reveal "exactly" how much land is to be transferred to Selangor Umno women's chief Raja Ropiaah under a new agreement signed between her firm Awan Megah and units of the Armed Forces retirement fund LTAT.

"This is an acid test for Dato Zahid Hamidi. If he through Boustead Holdings Berhad still wants to play tough and defend their deal, it only shows he is putting political pressure above the interest of the Armed Forces personnel," Rafizi told a press conference on Tuesday.

"I have also written officially to Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim to consider issuing a Land Acquisition notice under the 1960 Land Acquisition Act. Once this notice is issued, all the dealings made with Raja Ropiaah can be legally terminated. The question is will Zahid do so or will he go through with the deal to benefit Ropiaah at the expense of the LTAT?"

Rafizi was referring to a land swap deal involving 223 acres in Bukit Raja in Selangor state, which the Ministry of Defence had agreed to sell to Ropiaah's firm at sharply discounted prices in 2006.

Despite the failure of Ropiah's Awan Megah to complete building a military research unit, which was part of the land swap agreement, Boustead had recently announced a RM160mil deal that was widely slammed as being a bailout for the Umno leader, as well as to silence controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan, a friend-turned-foe of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Backdoor compensation?

Boustead had agreed to 'buy back' the 200 of the 223 acres from Ropiaah for RM130mil even though the land legally still belongs to the Ministry of Defense instead of rescinding the deal, which critics said it could do since she had not fulfilled her part of the agreement to build the research unit. RM30 mil was also paid to Deepak's firm Astacanggih, which had tried to buy the land from Ropiaah.

The deal fell through, with Deepak suing Ropiaah, after the Selangor state government spotted major flaws in the agreement and refused to transfer the titles until the discrepancies were cleared up. To cover up the scandal, Zahid and Najib were accused of putting pressure on Boustead, which is 61%-controlled by the LTAT, to step in with a new agreement.

According to Rafizi, who recently inspected the new agreement Boustead unit Bakti Wira signed with Raja Ropiaah, there are suspicious clauses allowing LTAT's construction arm Jendela Hikmat to transfer more land to Ropiaah to compensate her for agreeing to sell 200 out of the 223 acres to Bakti Wira, for RM130mil.

"This is another form of backdoor compensation. It appears Raja Ropiaah will be compensated through Jendela Hikmat for the land," said Rafizi, explaining that the market value of the land was around RM400mil.

Nonetheless, critics of the deal including Armed Forces personnel concerned about their pension fund have pointed out that the lands were never transferred, so why should the LTAT, via Jendela and Boustead's Bakti Wira, be made to pay her RM130mil in the first instance, and worse still, the LTAT may now have to top up the RM130mi to the estimated RM400mil market value for Ropiaah, who has been accused of being a proxy for Najib and his family.

"It looks like their greed knows no bounds," said Rafizi.

Malaysia Chronicle