Report made to MACC over sale of state entity’s land

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah vice-president Junz Wong lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today on the sale of 238 acres (99 hectares) of commercial land belonging to a state-owned entity.

The Likas assemblyman said the RM13.2 million price paid for the land, or about RM55,000 per acre, was far below the market price.

The complaint was lodged at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The land in Kinarut was owned by the Sabah Urban Development Corporation (SUDC), a wholly owned subsidiary and property development arm of the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO).

Land in Kinarut, a suburb of Kota Kinabalu, could go as high as a million ringgit per acre for native title land while commercial title land is priced a lot higher.

Native title land is reserved for Sabah Bumiputeras.

Wong said the land was allegedly sold to a company linked to one of the suspects in the “Sabah Watergate” scandal in which the MACC reportedly seized RM114 million from the homes of two Sabah Water Department officials last year.

“The Sabah government should open up SUDC land for sale to ordinary Sabahans to build their own houses since it is only sold at a cheap price of RM55,000,” he said.

Wong first raised the issue at the state assembly last month to seek clarification from the industrial development minister Raymond Tan.

Tan promised to provide a comprehensive answer and accompanying documents to Wong but later refused to do so after being given an ultimatum by Wong.

Tan also maintained that the land was not sold to any company as the project was actually meant to be a joint venture between the state government and the private developer.

He also threatened to sue Wong for misleading the public and even urged SUDC to file a defamation suit.

Wong insisted that Tan’s reluctance to give him the information had only strengthened his suspicions that something was not right with the land deal.

“It is as if Tan has something to hide. He should be ashamed of himself as he is obviously being very unprofessional and forgets that he is working for the people,” he said.

Wong added that Warisan would continue to pursue the matter until it received a satisfactory answer from the state government. -FMT