FOLLOWING a public concern probe by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of dubious land deals of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) denounces the threat made by the Federal Territories Foundation (YWP) against PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh.
“(The threat) construes an interference of an independent check and balance, bipartisan mechanism in Parliament and is an affront against good governance as a whole,” said the centre.
The report from the PAC investigation showed that the dubious land deals DBKL was involved in were attributed to the lack of standard operating procedures (SOP) for the sale/disposal of assets since 2011, with improvements only added in 2015.
PAC also found a conflict of interest within the management of YWP, with the foundation involved in various land dealings with DBKL that were called into question.
“The PAC’s report vindicates our longstanding detailed research and advocacy work, as well as that of the affected communities in raising such serious matters of concern despite little support from those in power,” said C4 Centre executive director Cynthia Gabriel.
The issue of the land deals, which C4 Center had found to be worth RM4.28 bil, saw a lack of clarity and opaque explanations from then-Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad.
The transactions had taken place under the purview of former Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan. Despite the change of government, the details remained secret and kept away from the public eye.
According to Gabriel, YWP’s purported involvement in some of the land deals is of great concern because YWP is not subject to any federal or government audits. Hence, there is no transparency or accountability mechanism to detect fraud and/or conflict of interest over the dealings involving government land.
“The fact that the current Federal Territories (FT) Minister Annuar Musa continues to helm YWP perpetuates the conflict of interest that existed during the previous administration. Annuar, retaining his powers under the Federal Territory (Planning) Act 1982 (Act 267) to overrule the Kuala Lumpur Mayor on planning issues, is the chairman of a private landowner – YWP, while concurrently carrying the power to have government decisions made in favour of that same private landowner.
“Clearly, this is an issue of conflict of interest and potentially abuse of power as seen in the past,” added Gabriel.
Despite the purported attempts to clear up the land deals, the C4 Centre pointed out that it was a disappointing show from the FT ministry, the actions seemingly compromised due to the stoic defence of the conflicts of interest so evident within the YWP.
It was worse that those actions made it more likely for corrupt deals to take place through the failure to address the issue of the land deals upon the completion of the Special Task Force Report.
C4 Centre would like to call for the Special Task Force Report on the issue of the land deals from 2018 to be debated in Parliament. The demand for the Perikatan Nasional government to build greater trust from millions of KL constituents must be met with greater accountability and not threats to sue.
“The centre also urges the MACC to shed details on their prior investigations and reinvestigate the 97 dubious land deals, particularly those involving YWP,” it said.
The C4 Center calls for YWP to be abolished entirely as well, rather than being converted to a statutory body. Instead, the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) division within DBKL to take on YWP’s work would allow for better governance and transparency. – Nov 20, 2020
