RM10 MILLION – MORE MONEY THAN 99% OF MALAYSIANS WILL EVER EARN IN THEIR LIFETIME – BUT MAT HASAN DISMISSES IT AS NOTHING: ‘I JUST BOUGHT AN APARTMENT IN LONDON’ – DO MBs EARN SO MUCH?

Former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Mohamad Hasan says there was no wrongdoing in his 2008 transfer of RM10 million to London via a money changer.

He stressed that Negeri Sembilan Legislative Assembly speaker Zulkefly Mohamad Omar was free to bring up the matter again to the MACC.

“The MACC has investigated this, so it’s up to the authorities.

“I’ve not been found guilty. It’s just that I transferred money through a money changer.

“There was no abuse of power, nor did I do something bad. I just bought an apartment in London,” the BN candidate for the Rantau by-election told a press conference today.

At a ceramah last night, Zulkefly questioned why the MACC had not taken action against Mohamad, who allegedly broke banking laws with the RM10 million transfer when serving as the menteri besar.

At the time, the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not take any action against Mohamad, opting to go after the money changer instead.

Felcra allegations

Mohamad also rebutted allegations raised by activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin on a Felcra deal.

Badrul Hisham, better known as Chegubard, alleged last night that Mohamad had signed over some 2,500ha of land to the agency with no land title granted nor premium payments made.

The move is said to have cost Negeri Sembilan millions of ringgit.

Badrul Hisham also claimed that RM30.65 million in proceeds from Felcra meant for the eKasih welfare fund had gone missing.

He said that he learned of these allegations after obtaining documents from district officers and state government staff.

Responding to the purportedly missing eKasih funds, Mohamad told Badrul Hisham to trace the money trail.

“Surely the money didn’t disappear. The money trail is easy to check (to see) where the money went,” he said. “Definitely not to my account.”

The former menteri besar also explained why no land title or premium was issued in the Felcra land deal.

He said it was his administration’s policy not to surrender land to corporations looking to develop oil palm estates.

Instead, he said, the land would only be leased for 21 years – to avoid a repeat of past situations, where the state government lost its land in the case of joint ventures with private entities going south.

“The land has no title, meaning it is not pawned off to anyone,” he explained.

“At the same time, the state government doesn’t issue a premium because there is no title. They (corporations) only pay rent for the land to the state government.”

Character assassination attempts

Mohamad, who is defending the Rantau state seat in the coming by-election, believes more attempts at character assassination will emerge in the second half of the campaign.

The April 13 polls will see a four-cornered fight between Mohamad, Pakatan Harapan’s Dr S Streram and independents R Malar and Mohd Nor Yasin.

The seat fell vacant after the Federal Court upheld a decision to void Mohamad’s walkover win last year.

This stemmed from the returning officer’s move to block Streram from filing his nomination papers in the 2018 general election.

Asked to comment on Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s planned comeback, meanwhile, Mohamad said it was up to the Umno president when he would end his garden leave.

Mohamad took over Zahid’s duties as party president last December.

MKINI