DBKL: We were forced to approve Bersatu youth leader's application

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Licensing and Petty Traders Development Department director Anwar Mohd Zain said he was forced to approve Bersatu youth leader Mohd Noorhisyam Abd Karim’s application for bazaar lots after receiving a support letter from Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun.  

“We said no initially, but he (Noorhisyam) kept pestering us and we only gave in after receiving Bukit Bintang MP’s  support letter,’’ Anwar said.

Anwar was responding to a report pertaining to a Ramadan bazaar scandal in Jalan Masjid India involving Mohd Noorhisyam, who is accused of misusing political connections to secure 80 bazaar lots and renting it out for as high as RM5,000 per lot. 

“We also agreed after he claimed that he was only doing it to help poor people earn some money for Hari Raya,’’ he said. 

Anwar said that DBKL also made it clear to Noorhisyam that he must ensure that he received the co-operation from the shop owners along Masjid India.

“There was no more space for new lots there, but we allowed them to put up stalls near the Maybank area as long as it did not interfere with traffic,’’ he said.

Anwar said that DBKL scrapped its old system of allocating bazaar lots to political parties in 2014.

The system prior to 2014 has been mired in controversy, with various parties alleging  corruption and nepotism.

DBKL officers have always been accused of abusing power by allocating lots to contacts and cronies who in turn sub-let or sell the lots to the highest bidders.   

“In fact we are going to do away with third-party allocations,’’ he said.

Meanwhile Bukit Bintang Bersatu Chief Zailani Isausuludin said he would be lodging a Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission report over the matter.