KUALA LUMPUR: The company that constructed a building on two lots of land belonging to the government in Medan Imbi, Bukit Bintang is given up to Jan 31 to come forward and give an explanation, said Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad.
He said that the outcome of an internal investigation by the Integrity Unit of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) revealed that both pieces of land measuring 0.14 hectares on Lot 568 belonged to the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office while Lot 716 belonged to the Federal Territories Land Executive Committee under the supervision of the Chief Secretary to the Government.
He said the decision was taken after the meeting held today to give an opportunity to the company concerned to propose a solution and if no feedback was given further action could be taken.
“If there is no response, then we will consider that they are not interested to look after or defend the building.
“Another option available to the company concerned is to apply to the land owner to purchase the land at the current market price and to pay all premiums and development approvals as well as the fines to be imposed,“he said at a media conference after attending a meeting on the issue of malpractices on the land, at Menara DBKL, today.
On Jan 11, Khalid disclosed that he would give details on the malpractices and abuse of power detected by his officials on the issue of building constructions on federal government land.
At the media conference, Khalid also said a report on malpractices on the land would also be handed to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the parties or individuals involved in the creation of the “mysterious building”on the land worth almost RM20 million.
He said it was not logical for the authorities at that time to not know of the malpractices that occurred as there were protests made by two Members of Parliament at that time and the case had also received media coverage.
“This is a sign that abuse of power and malpractices had clearly occurred in DBKL during the previous administration. All those who are involved in this project will be up to MACC (to investigate).
“I expect the DBKL officers involved would say that they were only following instructions. (In this case), a clear instruction is what was was ordered by the Minister of (Federal) Territories at the time such as “please attend to” (sila uruskan), “take immediate action” (ambil tindakan segera). The minister had minutes at least four times (written instructions),“he said.
When asked whether the original owner of the land had taken action on the matter, it was possible that the landowner was powerless to take any action because it was under the administration of the previous government.
The order to approve the construction of the office building and restaurant including the fruit stalls on the two lots of land believed to belong to a local company was made in 2016 and construction work was completed in February last year.
Khalid said the trespassing on the land was not the only case that occurred in Kuala Lumpur and did not discount the possibility that there would be other such cases revealed subsequently. — Bernama
