MP: TRX secrecy due to cover-up attempt?

Putrajaya has been accused of attempting to cover up a dodgy land deal involving the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) by avoiding certain questions in Parliament.

In a statement today, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said Putrajaya had no reasons to hide details because both the former TRX owner 1MDB and buyer Aroma Teraju Sdn Bhd were ultimately owned by the Finance Ministry.

Thus far, Pua has made two unsuccessful attempts at soliciting answers about the deal through Parliament.

"What is the purpose of this secrecy when both parties in the agreement are owned by the government?

"There is only one reason for invoking this confidentiality clause, and it has nothing to with the purported 'commercial considerations'.

"It is to cover up the fact that the Finance Ministry paid over-the-top to buy back a fraction of the prime land it had sold at bargain basement prices to 1MDB in 2010," said Pua (photo).

Taxpayers ripped off

He said 1MDB's financial statements had shown that the land for TRX was acquired from Putrajaya for RM194 million, or approximately RM64 per square feet (psf) in 2010.

He also said it has been established that the Tabung Haji Board and the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) had paid RM2,800 psf and RM4,700 psf respectively for small parcels of TRX land, but what Aroma Teraju paid for the rest of the land is of public interest.

"If Aroma Teraju paid anywhere near the prices paid by Tabung Haji or LTAT, it would mean that Malaysian taxpayers would be been ripped off beyond their wildest imagination.

"Very simply, 1MDB purchased land from the government at RM64 psf and sold a fraction of the piece of undeveloped land back to the government five years later at an exorbitant rate," said Pua.

He argued that this would mean taxpayers' funds were being used to bail out 1MDB, which has taken on mountains of debt for questionable deals.

Pua urged 1MDB, its CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak to deny his allegation.-Mkini