MRB can blame Najib but also all officials involved; including EPF

KUALA LUMPUR, January 4 – Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok revealed that The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) was allegedly forced to sell 2,800 acres of its land at Sungai Buloh at below market price of RM1.5 billion in 2010.

“In October 2010, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had approved and instructed the sale of the land located in Sungai Buloh, known as Lot 481, to Aset Tanah Nasional Bhd (ATNB) in a direct sale,“ she said at a press conference yesterday.

The land was subsequently bought by Kwasa Land, a wholly-owned company under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), for a consideration of about RM2.28 billion, RM800 more than what MRB was paid.

“MRB was arbitrarily paid RM1.5 billion, which is below the market price. And now, it has come to MRB’s knowledge that the said 2,800 acres of land was subsequently flipped to KWASA Land for RM2.28 billion,“ Kok said further.

ATNB is majority-owned by Minister of Finance Inc which provides the Finance Minister veto powers in the company board members’ decision-making. The then Finance Minister was Najib.

So we can assume that Najib is responsible for the shortfall of RM800 million, but Najib is seen to be winning the online argument when he hit back with some sarcastic remarks via his Facebook page.

Najib winning the media circus with his sarcasm

“Kwasa Land is a company fully-owned by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and had already started to develop the land as a new city centre that included houses for about 150,000 people with an estimated gross development value of at least RM50 billion,” said Najib.

“This means Kok has accused BN of forcing the government to sell government land to the government, and subsequently giving an opportunity to EPF to raise billions in profit for its depositors,”

“How despicable of the old BN government to take care of their cronies, the EPF contributors.

“How cruel is the old BN government to carry out development projects as announced under the 10th Malaysia Plan,” Najib wrote in a sarcastic tone.

“Of course, many now know the new town is named Kwasa Damansara. There is also MRT station there right now.”

MRB Chairman Sankara Nair responded to Najib by telling him to explain what happened to the RM800 million and not make sarcastic remarks.

“Do not try to confuse the issue. You only have one question to answer – explain where and what happened to the RM800 million shortfall,” Nair said in a statement last night.

Blame Najib but also all the officials who allowed corruption

While we blame Najib for everything bad that happened in the country, is it not the right time to also nail his henchmen on the wall, strip them off their titles and positions and bring them to justice?

We can blame Najib and he can rot in jail for the rest of his life but what about those who let his reign cause so much ruin to the nation’s economy?

Didn’t they sign the sale papers? Didn’t they sign the purchase agreement?

Would they be crying, “oh, we were forced to sell” if Pakatan Harapan had not won the 14th general election last May?

Are they going to be held responsible for not executing their fiduciary duties as a government servant?

Why EPF (Kwasa Land) paid RM800 million more?

The most important question to Malaysians who are the main stakeholders of EPF is why did EPF (via Kwasa Land) buy the land for RM2.3 billion from ATNB when they could have bought it directly from MRB for RM1.5 billion?

Of course this points back to ATNB helmed by Najib back then, but why didn’t EPF expose this before? Their failure to protect the interest of EPF stakeholders in this case, must be accounted for.

Heads must roll! The then EPF board and the investment panel must be held responsible for allowing Najib to pillage the country via EPF. They can’t just cry, “oh we are just following orders” anymore!

Pakatan must teach government and GLC officials a lesson and must stop politicising issues by simply putting the blame solely on Najib.

Najib didn’t do all this alone!

-Mujahidin Zulkiffli