KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — A former Kuala Lumpur mayor today confirmed that he and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officials had taken follow-up actions, following then federal territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s handwritten notes of support in relation to a property developer’s land purchase.
Tan Sri Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz — who was Kuala Lumpur mayor from July 17, 2015 to September 30, 2018 — said that the federal territories minister had approved the sale of two plots of DBKL-owned land to developer Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd before he became mayor.
Mhd Amin Nordin noted that Aset Kayamas owner Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong was actively involved in developing affordable housing units under the Federal Territories Ministry’s Rumawip programme, adding that he had known of Chai as the latter’s companies had purchased several plots of land from DBKL to build affordable houses.
Rumawip was launched on April 8, 2013 with the aim of having 50,000 affordable housing units constructed in Kuala Lumpur by 2018, he said.
“In line with this policy, when private companies apply to buy DBKL land with proposals for development, the land is sold via outright sale to the developer with the approval of the YB Federal Territories Minister and among the conditions is that the development component has to have Rumawip built in their development proposal at suitable locations,” he told the High Court.
Mhd Amin Nordin then detailed several documents relating to Aset Kayamas’ purchase of the two plots of land in Bandar Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur, including two letters that bore Tengku Adnan’s handwritten notes.
Mhd Amin Nordin referred to Aset Kayamas’ August 26, 2015 letter to then minister Tengku Adnan, where the developer appealed for a reduction of the land price and to allow it to pay the 10 per cent payment worth over RM2 million or RM2,356,240 at a later date.
(The land price was based on the land value and an additional 20 per cent, with the company seeking an additional 10 per cent instead.)
This letter was forwarded to Mhd Amin Nordin on August 28, 2015, with the letter bearing Tengku Adnan’s note or minute to him stating “YBhg Mayor, please defer the 10 per cent payment for three months.”
Mhd Amin Nordin said he had then minuted or wrote a note to DBKL economic planning director Ab Salim Mansor for further action, namely to have him write a reply to Aset Kayamas “based on YB Minister’s instructions as minuted in Aset Kayamas’ August 26, 2015 letter”.
Mhd Amin Nordin said DBKL then penned a letter dated September 8, 2015 to Aset Kayamas — to notify DBKL’s agreement to defer the 10 per cent payment date to be by December 1, 2015 and to advise the company to apply to the Finance Ministry’s Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) for the land value to be lowered.
DBKL had in that letter said the original land value was set by JPPH and not DBKL, and that any requests to lower the land value should be referred to JPPH.
Mhd Amin Nordin also cited Aset Kayamas’ second letter of appeal to Tengku Adnan on February 3, 2016, where it once again sought for a lower land value and for the 10 per cent payment to be deferred again to April 1, 2016.
In this letter that was forwarded to Mhd Amin Nordin on February 16, 2016, Tengku Adnan had added his handwritten notes or minutes to the mayor to say that he agreed with Aset Kayamas’ two requests.
Mhd Amin Nordin said he had then wrote a note to DBKL’s Economic Planning and Development Department’s Ab Salim Mansor for further action to be taken.
DBKL in a March 16, 2016 letter to Aset Kayamas said it approved the company’s application for the land price to be lowered by 10 per cent and to allow the postponement of the 10 per cent payment to be by April 1, 2016, based on the minister’s instruction.
The sales and purchase agreement for the land was finally signed on July 1, 2016 between Mhd Amin Nordin as DBKL’s representative and Aset Kayamas directors Chai and Chai Woon Yun.
Mhd Amin Nordin is the seventh prosecution witness in Tengku Adnan’s corruption trial.
Tengku Adnan is on trial over his alleged receiving from Aset Kayamas director Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong of an Aset Kayamas cheque for RM2 million and dated June 14, 2016, while it was known that Aset Kayamas had connection with his official duties as a public servant in his position as federal territories minister.
The offence was allegedly committed at CIMB’s Pusat Bandar Damansara Branch in June 2016, with the penalty for the offence under Section 165 of the Penal Code punishable by a maximum two-year jail term or fine or both.
