MRB sustains losses of RM800m from land sale
Published on: Friday, January 04, 2019
Putra Jaya: The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) incurred losses of about RM800 million following a land sale in Sungai Buloh, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim disclosed on Thursday.She said the previous government had approved and instructed the sale of about 1,120 hectares of MRB land (Lot 481) in Sungai Buloh to Aset Tanah Negara Bhd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Finance (MoF). It was a direct sale whereby MRB was arbitrarily paid RM1.5 billion in October 2010. The total size of Lot 481 was about 1,354 hectares and following the sale of 1,120 hectares, the remainder now was only 234 hectares.
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Kok said the matter came to light, after an initial audit by MRB, which she instructed after she took office soon after the 14th general election.Thereafter, a full audit of MRB's assets and contracts was undertaken, she told a press conference here also attended by the Ministry Deputy Secretary-General (Plantation and Commodities) Ravi Muthayah, MRB Chairman Sankara N. Nair, MRB Director-General Datuk Dr Zairossani Mohd Nor and MRB Deputy Director-General (Research & Innovation) Dr Amir Hashim Md Yatim.The Minister also said MRB later found out that the 1,120 hectares of land that it sold (to Aset Tanah) was subsequently bought by Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), for about RM2.28 billion. "MRB, was therefore short-changed and there was a difference of about RM800 million. MRB contends that it is lawfully entitled to the difference.
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"The sum is still unaccounted for to date. The board has reported this dubious transaction to theNational Audit Department for thorough audit and further investigation," she said.As part of the sale, Kok also revealed that then board of MRB had approved to utilise the RM1.5 billion to develop the remaining 234 hectares of land.
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"Then in 2012/2013, the board resolved to build five facilities namely a new laboratory, an office tower, discovery centre (museum), sports facility and the Sedec Complex for technology transfer," she added. Based on records, Kok said a Project Delivery Partner (PDP) was appointed without "proper" board approval instead of appointing a project management consultant (PMC). In February 2018, the new board which was appointed, after existing board members were terminated, discovered several dubious transactions by certain MRB officers. The Minister said the board lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Nov 27, 2018 for breach of MRB procedures which resulted in losses of RM70 million to MRB. Asked who was involved in the land deal, Kok said details could not be divulged since the board had lodged a report with the MACC and the incident took place during the tenure of a former Government Minister in 2010. "Apart from this, the board shall also proceed with disciplinary action against certain individual officers in MRB for wrongdoings," the Minister added.Meanwhile, MRB Chairman Sankara Nair said when the PDP was terminated in February 2018, it had completed only five per cent of the development. He said the PDP has received RM70 million or 6.3 per cent of the total project cost in total before the project was terminated.Sankara said the PDP for the project was KLIA Consortium, which was formed by KLIA Associates Sdn Bhd and KLIA Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd, and the work package contractors were Mudajaya Group Bhd. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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