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Categories
| Penang state govt hands over papers to aid MACC in land case |
| Politics & Government 2009 | |||
| Written by Regina William | |||
| Thursday, 07 May 2009 14:46 | |||
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The case was investigated a few years ago by the then Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) but no one was prosecuted even though the then state government was deemed liable and an award of RM40 million being given for Tang Hak Ju by the High Court. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the MACC in a letter dated April 29 had requested the documents to facilitate investigations. "I have directed state secretary Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman and the state legal officer to provide these documents which include the minutes of the special inquiry committee into the Tang Hak Ju case and also the minutes of the land committee meeting from April last year until now as requested by the MACC. "Even though I do not see the relevance of the land committee meeting minutes of this administration as the scandal happened under the previous administration, we are still cooperating and providing the necessary documents," he said. Lim added the present state government which is saddled with the liability has no standing to question the merits of the case, but could only appeal on the quantum of the award, which now stands at RM29.4 million and could go up to RM40 million including interests. When the case was "unearthed" by the current government, an investigation committee was set up, headed by former deputy chief minister 1 Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, and when he resigned, it fell under the purview of Deputy Chief Minister 2 P Ramasamy. The committee is to investigate why no stern action was taken against those responsible for the "mistake" which was admitted by then land committee chairman Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya during last year's state legislative assembly sitting. It will also investigate the loopholes and weaknesses in the existing procedures and systems which caused such a scandal and to find ways to prevent it from happening. The Tang Hak Ju case happened when Hilmi was the deputy chief minister from 1999 to 2004 and also the land committee chairman. It involved a 10.6 acre quarry site which had been given to an individual by the then state government but the deal was later cancelled. Before the case was brought to court, the individual had agreed to a compensation of RM1.8 million but the state government refused to pay. This resulted in the case being taken to court and subsequently the court ordering the state government to pay RM40 million, which was reduced to RM29 million after appeal.
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