Joland Group: Chairman's bribery charge unrelated to DBKL land sale

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): In a statement, the Joland Group of Companies has clarified that that real estate developer Datuk Tan Eng Boon's bribery charge has nothing to do with the sale of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) land.

The Malay Mail reports that in a statement, the group clarified he had been charged under Section 16(b)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and an alternative charge under Section 109 of the Penal Code.

Tan is the current chairman of Joland Group of Companies.

He is charged with bribing former Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor with RM1 million.

“Prior to 15.11.2018, there have been several news reports in the media speculating that the Chairman will be charged for offences relating to the sale of 64 parcels of Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) land amounting to RM5.63 billion.

“The Group vehemently denies the contents of the news reports and states that the same are false and misleading. The Group makes it clear that the formal charge made against its Chairman yesterday is unrelated to sale of DBKL land as speculated,” The news portal quoted from the statement.

Tan allegedly committed the offence of handed over the RM1 million cheque to Tengku Adnan at CIMB Bank’s Pusat Dagangan Dunia branch on Jalan Tun Ismail.

The news portal reports that the court heard that the cheque was issued by Tan under Pekan Nenas Industries Sdn Bhd, in order to increase the density of a plot of land located in Jalan Semarak, for development by Nucleus Properties Sdn Bhd (now known as Paragon City Development Sdn Bhd). The company is reported to have had an official deal with Tengku Adnan’s ministry.

“Further, Joland Group of Companies has never obtained any government link’s projects in the past 40 years. Dato Tan Eng Boon has actively participated and is very supportive of various charitable activities.

“The Group hopes that the media would not continue to speculate and spread unsubstantiated news about Dato Tan Eng Boon and his family members and in the meantime, let justice take its due course,” the group is quoted as saying.