S’gor exco member among 15 hauled up over land scandal

PETALING JAYA: Statements from a Selangor executive councillor and 14 others have been taken over an alleged land scandal in Kampung Sungai Yu, Kuala Selangor.

The offices of several other state exco members have also been raided.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior director of investigations Datuk Simi Abdul Ghani said more witnesses would be called in to help investigations.

“We are still in the midst of col- lecting evidence. Our officers are now sifting through a stack of documents seized from the Kuala Selangor Land Office and the offices of the state exco members raided last week,” he said.

It is learnt that those called in included officials from the land and district office, Selangor Select Committee of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat), and temple committee members.

According to reports, Selcat, during its internal checks, found that guidelines over the distribution of land there had been infringed upon.

The MACC, after obtaining new evidence, reopened investigations into the 14.4ha plot.

Recently, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Azmin Ali urged the MACC to be professional and free of any interference when carrying out its investigations into the issue.

Among others, some 153 plots of land were said to have been given out under the 5A notices to undeserving residents.

Several residents of Kampung Sungai Yu, who have lived there for years, alleged misappropriation, including the distribution of more than one plot of land per family.

They also claimed that some plots were sold and given to those who came with non-existent MyKad numbers.

Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Irmohizam Ibrahim said checks showed that some of the recipients were from out of the state.

In a separate case, the anti-graft body is trying to track down at least six people over illegal mining activities in Kajang involving over RM1.2mil in ill-gotten gains.

Sources said the six were “key witnesses” and could shed more light on the probe.

It is learnt that those involved were said to have raked in huge profits since 2014.

On Nov 29, Mohd Azmin’s 34-year-old nephew, two company directors and a site manager were held over the investigation.

They were suspected to have given bribes to local council officers to turn a blind eye to the illegal activity.

Several lorries and bank accounts with cash amounting to RM4mil were also seized and frozen as part of the investigation.

The Selangor government is understood to have lost millions of ringgit in revenue due to the illegal sand mining.