Vell Paari laughs off claim ‘his’ firm bought underpriced land meant for estate workers

S Vell Paari said he is mulling legal action against the MIC member following the latter’s allegation.

PETALING JAYA: Former MIC secretary-general Senator S Vell Paari today denied an accusation by a party member that he had transferred land in Sungai Siput, Perak, owned by a cooperative, at lower than the market rate to a company in which he is a director.

An MIC member who lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) earlier today claimed that a 114-acre oil palm plantation was sold for RM11,200 an acre when the market rate was RM68,000.

“These allegations have been swirling (around) for the past 20 years. The only difference is, he has decided to include me.

“I deny such an accusation and have referred this matter to my lawyers to see if legal action can be taken against the man,” Vell Paari said when contacted.

Sungai Siput was the decades-long parliamentary constituency of Vell Paari’s father S Samy Vellu when he was MIC president and a long-serving Cabinet minister.

Earlier, Sungai Siput MIC member M Lokanathan said the land in question had belonged to Koperasi Kebangsaan Permodalan Tanah Berhad (KKPTB) and alleged that it was later sold to a company in which, he claimed, Vell Paari was a director.

According to Lokanathan, who said he was a KKPTB member, the land had been given to the cooperative by former MIC president, the late V T Sambanthan, for the benefit of the Dovenby Estate workers in Sungai Siput and KKPTB members.

Houses for them were to have been built on it as part of a general election promise, Lokanathan claimed.

FMT had withheld Vell Paari’s name in the earlier report pending his comment. - FMT