The Chempaka Buddhist Lodge has taken Selangor MCA to court over the party’s alleged failure to honour an agreement on a piece of land in Petaling Jaya.
The lodge’s president SK Tan told Malaysiakini he had on Nov 24 filed papers with the High Court in Shah Alam, seeking specific performance from the party, demanding it sells a one-acre plot of land to his association after “agreeing” to do so in 2012.
The plot is located in SS25/19 Petaling Jaya.
“There was an understanding between Selangor MCA and our association. The party agreed to sell the land to us.
“But MCA said it could not sell the land directly to us and told us to purchase an office lot for a similar value - RM2.5 million and to swap it for the land.
“But after we put down RM250,000 for an office lot (in Shah Alam), there was no action on their (MCA’s) part,” Tan said.
The lodge is represented by law firm Sreenevasan Young.
Sin Chew Daily had previously quoted Selangor MCA secretary Tan Chong Sang as saying that any deal made with the lodge was merely “a verbal agreement”.
The daily also quoted former Selangor MCA chairperson Donald Lim Siang Chai as saying there was such an “idea” to sell the land to the lodge during his tenure.
However, such deals would require approval from the party’s top leadership before they were allowed to take place.
Lim and current Selangor MCA chairperson Liow Tiong Lai have been contacted for a response to this matter.
'MCA lied about using land for public good'
This issue was also raised by DAP lawmakers Tony Pua, Yeo Bee Yin and Lau Weng San at a press conference today.
Pua (left in photo) said the alleged agreement on the land between Selangor MCA and the Buddhist lodge showed that the party had always intended to profit from the land, having acquired it at 400 times below market rate - at RM1 per square foot - in 2009.
“They always talk about using it for public good and to build community halls but these are absolute lies, rubbish.
“MCA intended to sell the land. (Since 2009) it has never specified about wanting to build anything on the land,” Pua, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, said after showing reporters the plot of land this afternoon.
A check by Malaysiakini showed a “For sale/rent” banner on the plot, with a contact number provided.
Yeo and Lau said MCA should return the land to the Selangor state government.
MCA has maintained that its purchase of the land was completely legal and above board.
Pua and Yeo said they came to know about the plot after Selangor MCA applied to convert it from a water retention area to a commercial plot in March this year.- Mkini
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