Five raids in Gatco probe
MACC runs simultaneous busts in land sale investigation
PETALING JAYA: The anti-graft body kept to its promise to stop corruption with Negri Sembilan being the latest state to come under scrutiny.
Five locations in the Klang Valley and Seremban were raided simultaneously as they moved in to gather evidence over Great Alonioners Trading Corporation Bhd (Gatco).
Four officers arrived in Wisma Negri, Seremban, at 10.45am and were led to the 4th floor of the state secretariat (SUK) building and left out the back entrance after two hours.
Another quartet visited the Negri Sembilan State Development Corporation (NSSDC) office, located nearby at Jalan Yam Tuan, at 11am.
Officers spent six hours sifting through documents before leaving.
Meanwhile, other teams went to Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd in Wisma Lotus, National Union of Plantation Workers ( NUPW) office in Gasing Indah, and audit firm Singam & Yong in Plaza Pengkalan, Jalan Tiong.
After several hours inside, the raiding teams left with a laptop bag and several boxes, believed to contain documents, to assist in the probe.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) director of investigations Datuk Simi Abdul Ghani confirmed the raids.
It is learnt the SUK office will be sought to assist in locating relevant documents.
Recently, MACC chief commissioner Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad said there would be more “hot” states after Penang and Selangor.
He also announced that a special task was force set up to probe the issue following information acquired from the Gatco Settlers Action Committee.
But investigations are expected to take some time as the land deal took place about 40 years ago.
A group of settlers had invested in a 1,500ha land scheme in Bahau under Gatco, which then went bust and was disposed of 13 years ago.
The conflict over the ownership of Kampung Gatco land goes back to 1977, when Gatco was set up.
The company was formed by NUPW as a land development scheme for members. This land was acquired from the NSSDC under a 99-year lease.
Settlers paid a RM7,600 deposit each for their allocated plot of land.
According to reports, the settlers were supposed to get a house built on a 0.4ha plot of land, as well as 3.2ha of land to farm sugarcane.
However, Gatco went bankrupt and the appointed liquidators sold the land to Thamarai Holdings in 2006, kicking off the dispute.
After intervention by the state government, Thamarai Holdings agreed to part with 480ha of land, to be distributed to the settlers for free.
Any settler who agreed to the arrangement was to be given 1.6ha of land, but those who had acquired the property from the original owners would only get 0.8ha each.
The settlers claimed that there were elements of misappropriation in the sale of the land and urged the authorities to investigate.
The 2,000ha Gatco estate was previously a sugarcane plantation owned by Syarikat Gula Negeri Sembilan and following its closure, the land was leased to the NSSDC.