Tony Pua

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8): DAP lawmaker Tony Pua has branded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s claim that the information on the cost and size of the land in the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) acquired by Aroma Teraju Sdn Bhd from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) in 2015 is confidential as a “cover up” of the Finance Ministry’s (MoF) excessive payments.

Aroma Teraju is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MoF.

Pua, who is DAP national publicity secretary and MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, had initially asked the Finance Minister about the cost and size of the TRX land acquired by the company in Parliament on July 31, to which the Finance Minister said in a written response that the information was “protected by a confidentiality clause between the buyer and seller.”

Subsequently on Nov 6, Pua questioned as to why the information cannot be disclosed, despite Aroma Teraju and 1MDB being units of the Finance Ministry, whereby the minister had once again said it was due to the agreement’s confidentiality clause to protect the commercial considerations of both parties.

“The Minister chose to ignore that both Aroma Teraju and 1MDB are wholly-owned by MoF. What is the purpose of this secrecy, when both parties in the agreement are owned by the government?” Pua said during a press conference in Parliament today.

“There is only one reason for invoking this confidentiality clause, and it has nothing to do with the purported 'commercial considerations',” he added.

“It is to cover up the fact that MoF paid over-the-top to buy back a fraction of the prime land that it had sold at bargain basement prices to 1MDB in 2010.”

Pua said based on 1MDB’s 2011 financial statements, the 70-acre TRX land was acquired by the government for RM194 million, or approximately RM64 per square foot in 2010.

However, in the same year that Aroma Teraju acquired the aforementioned piece of land from 1MDB, the latter also sold other parcels on the TRX land to other government-linked institutions, including Lembaga Tabung Haji (which acquired 1.6 acres for RM188.5 million or over RM2,800 per square foot), and Affin Bank Bhd (which acquired 1.25 acres for RM255 million or close to RM4,700 per square foot).

“If Aroma Teraju paid anywhere near the prices paid by Tabung Haji or Affin Bank, it would mean Malaysian taxpayers would have been ripped off beyond their wildest imagination,” Pua said.

“Very simply, 1MDB purchased land from the government at RM64 per square foot and sold a fraction of the piece of undeveloped land back to the government five years later, at an exorbitant thousands of ringgit per square feet,” he added. — theedgemarkets.com

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