Third Datuk held over Ijok land deal

Hauled to court: Six people, including two Datuks, being brought to the magistrate’s court in Putrajaya to be remanded. Simi (inset) confirmed the latest arrest.

PUTRAJAYA: Investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) into the RM1.8bil Ijok land deal has widened with the detention of a third Datuk.

The 53-year-old director was arrested at the MACC headquarters at 6pm here yesterday after having his statement recorded upon his return from Bangkok.

The seventh person to be arrested over the project is expected to be remanded today.

According to sources, MACC is investiga­ting financial transactions involving RM200mil to five companies which received RM68mil, RM62mil, RM42mil, RM16.5mil and RM8.5mil.

MACC investigations director Datuk Simi Abd Ghani confirmed the arrest but declined to comment further.

“To date, we have frozen 43 bank accounts worth RM86.7mil,” he said.

Datuk Simi Abd Ghani

On Tuesday, six people, including two Datuks and a father and son, were arrested.

Yesterday, Magistrate Khir Nizam Jemari allowed the six – who are officials and staff members from firms in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur – to be remanded for four days until Saturday.

It was earlier reported that the plot of land involved was given to settlers over 20 years ago via a state programme to upgrade their standard of living.

Two companies were brought in to develop the land in 1997 but could not hold up their end of the bargain.

In 2009, then Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim seized the land from the developers, who then took the state to court.

The companies lost the case and appealed to the Federal Court.

In 2016, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali filed a settlement agreement and returned the seized land to the developers. This was later sold to a third party for RM1.8bil.

In Klang, strategic communications director in Mentri Besar’s office Yin Shao Loong denied the land seized by Khalid – named Alam Per­dana – had been returned to the developers.

“The land seized by the former mentri besar – Alam Perdana – is still in the state government’s possession,” he said, adding that the state government was also not involved in the sale of the land.