Letter shows low-cost flats offered to council staff
PETALING JAYA: More evidence has surfaced in the purchase of low- and medium-cost flats units by Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) staff who do not qualify to own these units. This time, an offer letter dated March 29, 2002, from the developer, Mutiara Rini Sdn Bhd, to MBPJ was made available to the press by a source.
The letter allegedly offering to sell low- and medium-cost flats in Mutiara Damansara, was addressed to MBPJ's former president Datuk Emran Kadir.
The offer was believed to have been made by the developer to MBPJ with the hope that the block of flats would be turned into the council's staff quarters.
In the same offer letter, there was a handwritten note alleging that a discussion had taken place between Emran and the council planning director Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali.
The note, which was dated May 16, 2002, allegedly shows that Emran had instructed Sharipah to extend the offer to all MBPJ staff to buy the low- and medium-cost units.
The source, the president had informed Sharipah's assistant to minute the discussion on the same offer letter by the developer.
According to recent media reports, Sharipah said Emran asked developers who were not involved in squatter resettlement project, to set aside a certain number of units for city council staff.
In the article, Sharipah said the Ara Damansara flats where she and her other council staff had purchased their homes were not part of a squatter relocation project.
However in her July 9, 2009 letter to Datin Paduka Alinah Ahmad of the Selangor Housing and Property Board, she indicated that the squatter residents of Kampung Tropicana Padang Tembak in Petaling Jaya and Kampung Lembah, Shah Alam, were to be moved to the low-cost flats in Ara Damansara.
The former president has been silent on the issue.
It was recently reported that several senior council officers owned low-cost flats in the names of their spouses and relatives.
The flats are meant for families with a total income of less than RM2,500 a month.
The case is being probed by various bodies, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
It was also alleged that some councillors, too, owned such units.
At the city council full board meeting on Tuesday, the councillors issued a joint statement saying that none of them owned a low-cost flat.
Councillor Derek Fernandez said the matter happened between 2002 and 2005, which was before they became councillors.
Mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman has given the Independent Audit and Corporate Governance Committee full authority to investigate the issue.
The committee consists of five councillors with Michael Soon as its chairman.
The rest are Richard Yeoh, Tang Fuie Koh, Muzammil Hafiz and Latheefa Beebi Koya.
Fernandez on Tuesday had said: "This incident took place even before Petaling Jaya was awarded the city status.
"We are not sure of the qualification which allowed these officers to purchase the flats.
"The case involves the previous administration and none of us (councillors) own any such unit."
Latheefa had said on Tuesday: "The present government and council do not support the idea of selling low-cost flats to those who do not meet the requirement.
"But we need to identify the clause, if there is one, which led almost 500 officers to buy the low-cost-flats," she said.
It is estimated that the units were sold between RM30,000 and RM40,000 each.
Read more: Letter shows low-cost flats offered to council staff http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2gfd/Article/#ixzz0pIIUudLI
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