Rafizi: 1MDB did not give TH a discount for land

The audited account of an Indonesian firm which acquired Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land has cast doubts on claims that Tabung Haji bought land from 1MDB at a discount.

In 2015, Tabung Haji courted controversy after it was revealed that the fund had acquired a 1.56-acre plot at TRX from 1MDB at RM188.5 million or RM2,774 per sq ft.

However, the audited account of Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd showed that it paid RM403.9 million or RM2,769 per sq ft for its 3.4-acre plot within TRX.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, who revealed this, said the facts showed that Tabung Haji did not receive any special treatment from 1MDB.

At the time, Tabung Haji was accused of bailing out 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund that was suffering from severe cash flow problems due to its massive debts.

Particularly, this touched a raw nerve for Muslims that were opposed to using their savings for pilgrimages to salvage 1MDB.

The clandestine nature of the deal - which was first unravelled by an anonymous blogger who posted copies of Tabung Haji internal documents as proof - had also added to the intrigue.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (photo) pointed out at the time that the price Tabung Haji paid for a small piece of land was equivalent to what 1MDB paid to buy the land from Putrajaya in 2010.

A week after news on the Tabung Haji controversy broke, 1MDB announced that Mulia Group had bought a piece of land in TRX for RM655 million and it was only later established that the firm had acquired a 3.4-acre plot.

Rafizi said that his investigations had led him to conclude that the inflated RM655 million price tag, as opposed to the RM403.9 million stated in the audited accounts, was a ruse specifically meant to give the impression that Tabung Haji was given a good deal.

"I would like to ask Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who was chairing 1MDB's advisory board at the time, whether the announcement 1MDB's announcement (on the price paid by Mulia) in 2015, was an attempt to trick the public into thinking that Tabung Haji bought land at a discount to soothe public anger.

"I will elaborate on this issue tomorrow while we await a reply from 1MDB and the prime minister," he told a press conference in Parliament today. -Mkini