KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — The government disclosed today that Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi received a plot of land worth RM76 million as a retirement gift.
Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Special Functions) Datuk Abd Latiff Ahmad told Labis MP Pang Hok Liong that Abdullah was the only former prime minister to have been awarded land.
“Based on PMD’s records, only Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been awarded land by the federal government by virtue of him being a former prime minister,” Abd Latiff said in a written parliamentary reply.
The land, located at the upscale Persiaran Tuanku Jaafar here, totalled 155,290 square metres.
Official estimates valued the plot at RM492.37 per square metres at the time, which meant the land amounted to RM76,460,000, the minister said in the written reply.
He added that the land was given as a provision under the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980 (Act 237), that specified “benefits for former prime ministers”.
Abdullah, popularly known as Pak Lah, was Malaysia’s fifth prime minister from 2003 to 2009.
Abdul Latiff also said the land gift was approved by the Cabinet led by Abdullah’s successor Datuk Seri Najib Razak on June 16, 2009.
Najib, who has been convicted on multiple charges of corruption and power abuse for embezzling money linked to state investment arm 1MDB, was recently embroiled in another controversy after he was accused of asking for a piece of land worth RM100 million as a retirement gift.
Najib, Malaysia’s sixth prime minister from 2009 to 2018, denied the allegations and claimed the land was offered to him instead.
The issue immediately drew public attention and sparked uproar.
* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
