15 contractors conned of RM2.5mil in forestry scam
IPOH: Fifteen contractors, swayed by the suave and sophisticated appearance of a “broker”, thought they were getting lucrative tenders from the Perak State Forestry Department – and ended up being allegedly cheated of RM2.5mil.
Businessman Safaruddin Arif, 51, said he met the so-called broker named Faiz here through a friend and they immediately discussed business.
During that meeting, he said, Faiz also introduced the “deputy director of silviculture” from the forestry department, but Safaruddin now believes that the man was also part of the scam.
Faiz had such a way with words that Safaruddin and his friend decided to invest RM148,000 in various forestry department projects, mainly to buy timber seedlings.
“He told us that he had done several projects for the forestry department and showed us the letters to prove it.
“For two weeks, I gave him money for these projects but I did not see any returns. On Jan 7, he showed up again with another project and gave us the offer letter,” Safaruddin said.
“He wanted RM24,000 but I told him I would only pay it once I had verification from the department. I realised something was amiss when the serial numbers of the seedling project letters for different companies were the same.
“We checked with the department and they told us there was no such project, and the letters were fake.
“The department officers also told us that Faiz used to deal with them but he failed to complete the projects,” he told reporters yesterday at the Sungai Senam police station after lodging a police report together with seven other contractors on.
Safaruddin said he went searching for Faiz and eventually confronted him at a restaurant here on Jan 9.
According to him, Faiz then admitted to his deeds and promised to pay back the money in RM10,000 instalments every month, to which Safaruddin agreed.
He said that he had also met Faiz’s wife and mother there.
However, when he could not locate Faiz and his family subsequently, Safaruddin and the other contractors decided to lodge a police report.
Another businessman, Aznul Rizal Fatahal Karim, 39, said Faiz approached him in 2015 with genuine projects and he invested RM120,000 but did not see any profit.
Aznul said Faiz told him the profits had been reinvested in other projects in order to make more money.
“I believed him when he said that because he has handled some genuine projects with the forestry department. (But) we found out that he did not complete any of those projects,” he added.
When he realised that he had lost his investment, he posted about it on Facebook and learned through the responses that other businessmen were in a similar situation.
“About 15 of us lost a total of RM2.5mil and we believe there are many other contractors out there who had had dealings with him. The police told us he might be a professional fraudster.”
Over the past few weeks, 15 men have lodged reports at the Sungai Senam police station.
“Through this press conference, we hope to see others coming forward. We tried calling Faiz and even went to his family home in Teluk Intan but they were not there.
“This is a lesson to all of us to be careful when offered state agency projects,” said Aznul.