Outright sales of DBKL land 'a new practice', court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The outright sale of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) land was a new practice, the High Court heard on Tuesday (July 16) during the corruption trial of Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Former Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Phesal Talib said in the past, land belonging to DBKL were usually developed using a joint venture (JV) method.

Reading from a written statement, he said applications for outright sales usually went through the office of the minister.

"When doing outright sales, the process usually starts with an application by a developer to buy and develop any land belonging to DBKL.

"(The application) is done through a letter that the developer sends to the Federal Territories minister for his support (sokongan)," he said.

He added that developers would identify the land they wanted, adding that DBKL never advertised any of its land for sale.

"After Tengku Adnan was appointed as Federal Territories minister in 2013, DBKL received many applications from developers to buy DBKL land via outright sale that were conveyed to us through the (then) minister," added Ahmad Phesal.

He also told the court that without the consent of the minister, DBKL could not sell its lands on its own based on Section 101 (1)(r)(i) of the Local Government Act 1976.e

Ahmad Phesal, however, said the outright sale method brought faster returns to DBKL as city hall did not have any responsibility to manage the land after the developer paid for it.

Tengku Adnan was charged on Jan 23 this year (2019) for allegedly receiving RM2mil in bribery from Aset Kayamas chairman Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong.

The prosecution charged that there was conflict of interest between his post as the then Federal Territories minister and Aset Kayamas' property-developing activities.

The trial will continue before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan in the afternoon.- Star