MB slams rep for linking him to land scandal

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin has come out strongly against an allegation by a state assemblyman that he is corrupt, saying he has not accepted bribes and never will.

Rebuking DAP’s Senai representative Wong Shu Qi for implicating him in a land scandal that made the headlines in March, the Johor Mentri Besar said the latter “is wrong, malicious and gone overboard”.

“The law has been broken and image of the state assembly tarnished with classified documents leaked, which has undermined the administration of justice. This cannot be tolerated.

“I leave it to the authorities to act in accordance with the law against the Senai rep.

“I would like to state here that on the dates referred to in the documents, I was abroad and in other places for business and was not at all at the state Umno headquarters,’’ he said in his winding-up address at the state assembly yesterday.

At the state assembly last week, Wong referred to a report on an unnamed website that claimed Khaled received RM12mil, RM11.2mil of it in cash, from developers to change the status of bumiputra lots to non-bumiputra.

Earlier this year, the then State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi, his eldest son Ahmad Fauzan Hatim and property consultant Amir Sharifuddin Abd Raub were charged with 21 counts of money laundering amounting to RM35.78mil in connection with the land scandal.

Abdul Latif and Amir Sharifuddin were also charged with 33 counts of corruption over the conversion of the lots.

The case involved some RM30.3mil for development projects in Kota Masai, Tebrau, Kulai, Kempas, Nusajaya and Johor Baru.

Khaled said he would not hesitate to take legal action against those who made baseless allegations against him.

He reminded Wong and the other Opposition representatives of the need to adhere to the law, saying only a court of law was in a position to determine the validity of any statement given.

“Please understand that an accused’s statement in any investigation is not evidence until it is corroborated,” he added.

Khaled said statements recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission are confidential and cannot be revealed until brought to court.