Najib Minister Is Accusing Bn Gov T Of Selling Land To Itself

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Former premier Najib Abdul Razak has taken a swipe at Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok over the latter's allegation that his administration forced the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) to sell 2,800 acres of its land for an undervalued price
According to the Malay Mail, Kok had claimed today that the MRB was "shortchanged" of RM800 million after it was allegedly forced to sell its land for RM1.5 billion to Aset Tanah Negara Berhad (ATNB), a special purpose vehicle
She had said that the previous cabinet had approved the direct sale of the land, located in Sungai Buloh, to ATNB in October 2010
Kok reportedly added that the land was subsequently bought by Kwasa Land, which is owned by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), for approximately RM2.28 billion in 2012
In a Facebook post, Najib said Kok had effectively accused BN of forcing the government to sell land it owned to itself
He added that Kok had also accused the previous government of enabling EPF contributors to profit through the subsequent development of the area by Kwasa Land
"The MRB is a government agency. ATNB is also a government agency
"Kwasa Land is a company fully owned by EPF and had already started to develop the land as a new city centre that included houses for about 150,000 people with an estimated gross development value of at least RM50 billion," said Najib, who was also the former finance minister
"This means Kok has accused BN of forcing the government to sell government land to the government, and subsequently giving an opportunity to EPF to raise billions in profit for its depositors," he added
Citing the RM2.28 billion figure, Najib said the direct sale price of RM18.70 per square foot to Kwasa Land had been deemed reasonable by various market analyses at the time
Commenting further, Najib said people would recognise the site today as Kwasa Damansara, a new development which included an MRT station
He pointed out that the site, located within the Subang parliamentary seat, was part of the Greater Kuala Lumpur Strategic Development Project as announced under the 10th Malaysia Plan
"How despicable of the old BN government to take care of their cronies, the EPF contributors
"How cruel is the old BN government to carry out development projects as announced under RMK-10," said Najib sarcastically
"Does Teresa Kok have nothing better to do, like taking care of smallholders, raising the price of palm oil or setting-up a palm oil club?" he asked
In a press conference at her ministry this morning, Kok also revealed that the cabinet had in 2010 instructed MRB to utilise the RM1.5 billion it received from the land sale to develop the remaining 585 acres in the parcel of land
However, a plan to build five facilities was eventually terminated by the previous board last February after it only achieved five percent completion after six years. - Mkini

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