KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — The Auctioneers Council of Malaysia (ACM) had been consulted and included in several discussions before an online property auction system was introduced, the court official said today.
Datuk Seri Latifah Mohd Tahar, the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court whose office is in charge of the new online system, denied that ACM was not included in the conversation before e-Lelong was introduced in Kuantan in July 2017 as a pilot scheme.
Latifah explained that the e-Lelong system is for the auction of immovable property at the High Court of Malaya and was launched as a pilot scheme at the Kuantan courts by Chief Justice Tun Raus Sharif on July 27, 2017.
“In this matter, PKPMP as the agency responsible wishes to stress that before the e-Lelong system was launched as a pilot project, as many as four engagement sessions with stakeholders had been held that were also attended by Mustafa Osman as the president of the Auctioneers Council of Malaysia,” she said in a statement today, referring to her office by its Malay initials PKPMP.
Latifah went on to list down the details of the four engagement sessions dating as far back as 2015.
The first session on November 28, 2015 was attended by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), the Bar Council, representatives of financial institutions and licensed auctioneers; while the second session on March 1, 2016 was attended by the Bar Council, Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM), Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) and states’ auctioneers associations.
The third session on June 23, 2016 was attended by the representatives of licensed auctioneers throughout Peninsular Malaysia, while the fourth session on February 16, 2017 was attended by ACM and the states’ auctioneers associations as well as 11 others.
The others who attended the final session cited are the representatives of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department’s office, the AGC, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, the Malaysia Productivity Corporation, the Bar Council, ABM, AIBIM, Malayan Banking Berhad, Cyber Security Malaysia and Pos Digicert Sdn Bhd.
Latifah said her office had in each session given detailed explanation on the e-Lelong system’s concept, work process and technical developments to all who attended, adding that all of them were given the chance to voice out any comments and problems about the online system’s introduction.
“At all times, PKPMP always recognises the assistance of the licensed auctioneers that have greatly assisted the courts before this, but in line with the modernisation of digital technology, therefore the implementation of the e-Lelong system is a necessity for the interests of the public as a whole.
“PKPMP wishes to inform that licensed auctioneers can still play a role and assist in handling public auction cases of immovable property in court for cases that are not subject to Part IV, Sections 256 to 269 of the National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) and Order 83 Rules of Court 2012,” Latifah said in the same statement.
Earlier in the same statement, Latifah had explained that the e-Lelong system’s main objective was to increase the transparency and effectiveness of the bidding process for public auctions at the courts for properties in Peninsular Malaysia.
Yesterday, ACM’s Mustafa had said the proposed electronic platform to auction off foreclosed property was drawn up without proper consultation with stakeholders and alleged it was harmful to the livelihoods of some 1,800 auctioneers in the country.
The e-Lelong service was proposed as a way to eradicate cartels and syndicates that prey on the traditional manual auctioning process.
After launching the pilot stage of the e-Lelong system, Raus had then reportedly said that the online auction service allows bidders to confidentially make bids from any place in real time as long as they had internet access.
More information on the e-Lelong system can be found here.
