Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): Former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak has chided Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) chairman Sankara N. Nair for taking the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to task after the fund claimed innocence in a land sale which allegedly caused losses of nearly RM800 million to MRB.

"Today, it is the EPF's turn to receive a warning from the MRB chairman, who was appointed by a DAP minister (Teresa Kok)," Najib said in a Facebook post.

Kok, the primary industries minister, had last Friday announced that MRB had sold 2,800 acres of land in Sungai Buloh to Aset Tanah Nasional Bhd (ATNB), a special purpose vehicle of the finance ministry, for RM1.5 billion in 2010, and that ATNB subsequently sold 2,330 acres of the land to EPF-owned Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd for RM2.28 billion.

The EPF, however, has denied knowledge of the arrangements between MRB and ATNB when purchasing the land from ATNB.

But Nair has claimed that he had "concrete evidence" including pictures and documents to show that the EPF knew about the land sale in 2010 for RM1.5 billion, below the market price.

"With this evidence, EPF's assertion of being ignorant (over the sale) debunks their explanation," he told the Free Malaysia Today portal today.

Najib, in his Facebook post, said the EPF had raked in big profit after buying the land at RM2.28 billion, as it will generate properties worth at least RM50 billion in gross development value.

In addition, Najib said he had already pointed out before that ATNB is fully-owned by the finance ministry.

"There is not even one crony visible in the land transaction process except the EPF cronies, who comprise the EPF contributors," he said.

"Why is the (MRB) chairman not brave enough to seek an explanation from (Finance Minister) Lim Guan Eng and claim back the RM800 million if he is not satisfied," he added.

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