Macc Chief Not One But All 16 Land Swap Deals To Be Probed

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The MACC is investigating all 16 controversial land swap deals that caused the Defence Ministry to suffer a loss of RM515.21 million
MACC chief Latheefa Koya revealed this after de facto deputy law minister Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said yesterday that the graft-busters had opened only one investigation paper involving the deals
“I believe deputy minister Hanipa was talking about one of the many cases of land swaps. But MACC received 16 reports. But it must be noted that the land swap deals they have given are a long list of cases that go back over more than 25 years as well
“So we will need time and face difficulties in locating some of these evidences and the tracking. We are talking over 25 years involving different ministers of defence and various civil servants who have changed over the course of the year

“It is not as simple as just handing us an audit report because some of these land swaps, the term "land swap"  itself is not wrong, but we need to know why the deal was made, why it was made in that manner,” Latheefa told the media as reported by the Malay Mail Online
She added that not all the cases will result in a full-blown prosecution
Hanipa, in a parliamentary reply to Noor Amin Ahmad (Harapan - Kangar) yesterday, said that the 16 land swap projects, which took place between 1997 and 2018, were at different stages of implementation
"Six projects have been completed, one project failed and another is under construction. One is in the condition precedent while seven obtained approval in principle," he said
The deals involved 1,186 hectares of Defence Ministry land valued at RM4.75 billion with project costs of RM4.88 billion
The ministry had lodged two reports on army camps in Paloh, Johor and Hutan Melintang, Perak in February involving the deals
On May 17, the ministry lodged reports on the remaining 14 land swap deals
The land swap deal report tabled in Parliament on May 9, found the involvement of former prime ministers and defence ministers in 13 land swap deals
These projects were found to have approved due to political considerations as well as national interests
Meanwhile, Malay Mail also reported Latheefa as saying that the MACC was investigating the purchase of six helicopters which had yet to be delivered to the ministry
They were purchased by the previous BN administration at more than RM300 million
On Nov 3, defence ministry minister Mohamad Sabu said the ministry will hold discussions with the Finance Ministry and the attorney-general on the purchase
“We will be making a decision on the advice of the AG on why the helicopters have not arrived up until today
“We will wait for the views of the AG and the ministry [...] on whether to take any action, “ he had said. - Mkini

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