KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Calling it “mind-boggling”, DAP lawmaker Ong Kian Ming demanded today the Ministry of Finance (MoF) explain its reasons for making the government pay a whopping RM29.2 billion rent on land it already owns.
According to the federal opposition MP, the Federal Lands Commission has signed a dubious deal to pay a little-known company owned by MoF, Pembinaan PFI Sdn Bhd, rental for 186 plots of land it actually owns, in staggered payments of 30 blocks spread out over 15 years from February 15 last year right up to August 13, 2027.
“It’s like me leasing an apartment which I already own to my wife and then sub-leasing it from her by paying her rental!” he said, by way of comparison.
The Serdang MP claimed Pembinaan PFI’s funds are borrowings from the Employees Provident Fund, adding that the firm had racked up an I-Owe-You of RM27.9 billion, which makes it the government-owned company with the highest debt after state oil company Petronas and state wealth fund Khazanah Nasional.
“Is the purpose of this agreement to hide government expenditure from the budget so that our deficit would seem as if it is decreasing?” he questioned further.
The federal government hopes to trim its fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) next year; though currently, Putrajaya forecasts a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of the GDP this year, from 3.9 per cent last year.
The government is aiming to balance its books by 2020.
