150 lose RM9 million in land fraud

At least one victim had taken out his life savings to buy the 'cheap' land offered for sale in Gombak and Hulu Langat.

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 150 people are believed to have become victims of fraud in the purchase of land in Gombak and Hulu Langat from a real estate company, with losses incurred amounting to some RM9 million.

One of the victims, former Bank Negara employee Othman Sabri, 72, claimed he suffered losses of about RM72,000 when the real estate company responsible for managing the land acquisition closed shop.

“I withdrew my savings from the Employees Provident Fund to buy the land because the price was cheap and the company’s employees were very convincing when explaining how the purchase was done.

“After one year of waiting, I contacted the office but my calls went unanswered. I decided to go to the office but found it closed,” he told a press conference with the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) here today.

PPIM Special Action Unit director Yusuf Azmi said investigations found that the real estate company was operated by two “Datuk” businessmen, one of them the husband of a local celebrity.

Yusuf said the two “businessmen” had been active since 2011, going around selling someone else’s land at lower than the market price.

“They operated another company which closed shop but opened a new company to continue their illegal activities.

“I hope the Federal Territory and Selangor Land and Mines Offices, the Selangor state executive council and the Selangor State Development Corporation can take immediate action to stop this,” he added. -FMT