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MACC cleared land deal linked to PPBM leaders

Ex-Perak menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu and Najib Razak have been engaged in a war of words over the sale of a state-owned oil palm plantation and other land issues.

PETALING JAYA: There was no wrongdoing in a land deal involving a 30-year concession for a 746-acre piece of land and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has cleared the matter, former Perak menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu said.

Questions had been raised over the land in Kinta district following claims that the company awarded the concession is owned by two PPBM leaders.

Former prime minister Najib Razak was among those who asked Faizal for clarification.

In a Facebook post, Faizal said MACC had already investigated the claims over the award of the Request For Proposal and found no wrongdoing.

“The selection process was put before the Perak Agricultural Development Corporation (PPPNP) committee before it was approved.

“(The committee) is chaired by a PPPNP board member who is a senior civil servant.” he said. The PPPNP is a government body chaired by the Perak MB.

This land concession is the latest issue in an ongoing war of words between Najib and Faizal over the sale of a Perak-owned palm oil plantation and other land which the former claimed contributed to Faizal’s recent ouster as MB.

On the sale of the plantation, PT Pinang Witmas Sejati to a Singaporean company, Faizal reiterated that the idea for the sale was hatched in 2014, when BN was in power, and approved in 2015 but the deal did not materialise.

He added that among the reasons for the sale of the land in Palembang, Sumatra, was the high cost of replanting and the uncertainty over Indonesian laws and policies.