KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng claimed today that that ownership for 12 parcels of land in the city had been quietly transferred to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP), the welfare arm of the Federal Territories Ministry, to be flipped for profit.

At a news conference here, Lim said he had obtained a list from the Kuala Lumpur Land and Mines Office that showed the questionable transaction of the 12 plots of land amounting to 30.2 acres took place without open tender, when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition was in power.

He further claimed to have been informed by a retired staff from the land and mines office that an additional seven plots of land not in the list have also been transferred to YWP, which he said had “no business” to develop land.

“A possible answer to all these transactions is that the Barisan Nasional government had transferred the lands under the foundation, which would then be flipped or resold to private developers.

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“If this is so, where did the money go to? The right channel or pocketed by irresponsible people?” he asked.

Lim did not name the retired officer, but only said the latter had served the land and mines office for over 20 years. He added that he did not know why the seven additional plots were left out of the official list.

Lim who is also a lawyer said he will be writing to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today calling for an investigation and for the government to impose a caveat on transactions involving all 19 plots until the probe is completed.

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“I want MACC to probe and find out if there is any traces of corruption, or evidence of sales done under market value, or if they were done without open tender,” he said.

He said the freeze is necessary until an explanation can be given to the public.

The plots of land are spread out across the city and the transfer to YWP purportedly took place between January 2009 and June this year.

In the course of the nine years, the FT Ministry has passed through the hands of BN’s Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin (2009-2013) to Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor (2013-2018).

The current FT Minister is Khalid Samad from Pakatan Harapan, following the landmark May 9 general election.

Previously, Lim and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh had filed an official complaint with the MACC over 64 plots of land allegedly sold by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to YWP between 2013 and this year.

When asked for updates, Lim said he was not at liberty to disclose the details.

“Let MACC announce it,” he said.

He, however, told the public to anticipate similar exposès involving shady land deals in the near future.