Sankara ups ante over MRB land sale, tells Najib to explain

MRB Chairman Sankara Nair has questioned why the Sungai Buloh land was not sold directly to the EPF.

PETALING JAYA: The chairman of the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) has again demanded answers from former prime minister Najib Razak over the sale of land in Sungai Buloh, more than a week after the government revealed that the board had lost some RM800 million from the deal about eight years ago.

“His only feeble and lame response, thus far, was that I ask the current finance minister. Clearly, it is axiomatic and decent that Najib, as the finance minister then, under whose watch such a transaction took place, take full responsibility and answer,” Sankara said in a statement.

On Jan 4, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok claimed that MRB had in 2010 sold a 2,800-acre plot of land in Sungai Buloh to Aset Tanah Nasional Bhd (ATNB), a special purpose vehicle of the finance ministry, for RM1.5 billion.

ATNB in turn sold 2,330 acres of the land to EPF-owned Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd for RM2.28 billion.

Najib has defended the land sale, saying it was beneficial to EPF contributors as the retirement fund made huge profits from it. He also urged Sankara to refer to current finance minister Lim Guan Eng.

“Why is he afraid to ask Guan Eng and claim back the RM800 million, if he is still not convinced and insists that MRB suffered losses as the land was sold below market price?” the former prime minister wrote on Facebook.

Describing the land as a “crown jewel” for MRB, Sankara said the board has “incontrovertible evidence” that the sale was a deal that was “stitched up consciously” by MRB, ATNB and EPF.

“They collectively executed the sale and purchase agreements on a tripartite common platform, simultaneously, on Aug 16, 2011,” he said.

He questioned the “roundabout” way in transferring the land ownership.

“What was his motive to have structured this deal where MRB sells at a loss to ATNB? And why through a middleman – ATNB – which was a mere company whose memorandum and articles of association are wholly commercial and comparably liberal?

“Why not sell directly to EPF?” he asked.

He said there was nothing obliging the government to sell government land through ATNB.

“(It) gives rise to public speculation as to whether this was his modus operandi all along in other similar deals and whether he had such powers as finance minister.

“Remaining silent and to cowardly dodge on these crucial and compelling questions is not an option for Najib as it will inevitably lead to more controversy and undue speculation,” Sankara added. - FMT