MACC gets cracking in low-cost housing probe
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) visited the offices of two developers recently as part of its investigations into the allocation of low-cost homes to the undeserving. Officers from MACC headquarters in Putrajaya and Shah Alam went to the offices of the developers which built low-cost houses in Ara Damansara and Prima Damansara last Friday.
Apart from taking statements from company executives, the six officers also removed documents including name lists of house-buyers, in the two-hour operation.
“This is to help us identify those who bought the houses and if the list matches those provided by the state or local councils,” said an MACC official.
“If the lists of house-buyers do not match the list of those eligible for low-cost homes, it will help narrow our investigations,” he said, adding that executives of the companies were co-operative.
On Wednesday night, about 10 MACC officers spent three hours at the Seri Jati low-cost flats in Ara Damansara to record statements from complainants.
The 17 people who turned up were part of a group of 47 former squatters who had claimed they were not offered low-cost homes but were instead forced to rent the homes from those who did not qualify for low-cost housing – including senior Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) officers.
Many residents who were from the Kampung Tropicana and Kampung Lindungan squatter settlements were offered homes at the Seri Jati flats, but many more were not allotted units.
There were also business operators such as a sundry shop owner and a nasi lemak vendor who were relocated from the squatter settlements but yet claimed they were denied requests for a shop unit at the ground-floor of the flats.
One of these shoplots was instead given to a man who owns a bungalow in SS1, here – a house that is estimated to be worth about RM1.5 million.
On Aug 13, MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed held lengthy meetings with his officers to set the direction for the probe. It is understood that the MACC has cast its net wide to include developers, state officers as well as councillors, council officials and politicians – both past and present.
Statements have also been taken from the State Housing and Property Board, while the ineligible owners of low-cost units are also expected to be questioned soon.
