By Jaythaleela K
MIRI, Feb 20: Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today on alleged discrepancies in the sale and purchase of two parcels of land here involving the state government.
He told reporters after lodging the report at the MACC Miri office at 11.30am that the two blocks of land in question were Taman Selera Tanjong Lobang and Marina Parkcity, both facing a beach but are about 2km apart.
“As both parcels of land are in the interest of the public, I am calling upon MACC to conduct a full investigation, which is to include how the two properties were valued, the reasons and causes of the differences in land valuations, whether any person, agency or their representative has interfered with the valuation, and whether any illegal activity, collusion or corruption had taken place in the transaction of both properties.
“I have also submitted some supporting documents to MACC to facilitate their investigation,” he said.
Dr Ting claimed that the government sold the 2.87 ha state land at Taman Selera Tanjong Lobang to a private entity on May 16, 2014, for RM1,104,000 per hectare, but it bought the 1.3ha land at Marina Parkcity from a private entity for RM17,030,000 per hectare sometime in December last year.
The land at Marina Parkcity is for the construction of the Miri City Council office.
“As you can see (showing a map), the two blocks of land are near to each other and both are in prime locations.
“But despite there being no significant shift in land cost over the past few years, the difference in land valuation for both blocks of land is more than 15 times.
“Hence, it is inconceivable that there was no manipulation in the valuation of these two blocks of land,” he alleged. — DayakDaily
