This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 2, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has approved 64 Kuala Lumpur City Hall land deals of 97 transactions scrutinised by the city hall’s new administration. The Kuala Lumpur City Hall is also known as Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).

The land sales were conducted by DBKL during former federal territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s tenure, according to previous news reports, for a value of around RM5.63 billion.

Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad told parliament yesterday that out of the 97 transactions, 33 deals do not “principally” require MACC’s investigation.

Khalid, who was responding to a question by Tumpat member of parliament Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi, said out of the 97 transactions, DBKL has allowed 81 deals to continue.

“However one [out of the 81] was brought to court, not by the developer but by third parties,” Khalid said.

According to Khalid, 14 of the 97 deals have been cancelled via mutual agreements between DBKL and the respective developers.

He said DBKL also intends to cancel the remaining two land deals, one of which is under mediation because the developer rejected the cancellation. DBKL is waiting for a response from the developer on the other deal.