If military top brass are involved, even if they have retired, actions should be taken against them, says Patriot president Mohamed Arshad Raji.
PETALING JAYA: Severe punishment must be meted out to those involved in the billion-ringgit Defence Ministry land swap scandal as it dishonours all the men and women in uniform who sacrificed and served King and country, says veteran NGO, National Patriots Association (Patriot).
Patriot president Brig-Jen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji said while Patriot applauded the Defence Ministry for shedding light on the scandal, there were still many questions left unanswered regarding tens of thousands of hectares more of Defence Ministry land.
"Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu’s statement mentioned that the investigation committee found 16 land swap projects involving 1,183ha. There are many questions still unanswered.
"What happened to the balance of the 40,000 hectares originally mentioned? As for the 16 cases of land swap discovered so far, was it direct dealing with the persons/companies involved or through a phantom company?
"Who were the politicians and culprits involved? And were there military top bras involved too?" asked Mohamed Arshad.
Yesterday (Feb 19), the Defence Ministry announced that it had lost more than RM500mil from several land swap deals worth RM4.75bil.
The Defence Minister said they had received the report from the Governance, Procurement and Finance Investigating Committee led by former Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang on the land swap deals.
"The committee investigated 16 deals involving 2,932 acres of land (1,186.5ha) belonging to the ministry. In addition to the land value, the cost of the projects is estimated to be RM4.88bil," said Mohamad.
Mohamed Arshad urged the authorities to immediately freeze the accounts of the suspects and bar from leaving the country.
"If military top brass are involved, even if they have retired, actions should be taken against them.
"Patriot would like to see a strong message sent to our current serving personnel and our youths that enough is enough of all this nonsense of corruption.
"We will have zero tolerance towards corruption, especially those that happen in high office.
"No corruption case must be allowed to taint the honourable service of the men and women in uniform, military or police, who have sacrificed and served King and country with pride and honour," said Mohamed Arshad.
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