KUALA LUMPUR (May 13): Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has accused the Jasin District Land Administrator of further facilitating the compulsory acquisition of its land in Merlimau by a foreign-owned company, just three days after SDP had applied for a judicial review of the acquisition.

In a fresh affidavit dated May 10, SDP’s head of land management Mohd Razlan Mohd Rahim said the land administrator had issued Form H (which serves as a written notice of the award of compensation by the land administrator to the affected party) a mere three days after SDP filed its application on April 29.

He said the land administrator should not have any action that serves to alter the status quo with regards to the land’s status, after SDP initiated legal action.   

It is an act of mala fide (ill intended) and may amount to contempt of court, warned Razlan in the affidavit sighted by theedgemarket.com.

He said the land administrator’s swift action in issuing Form H after the controversial acquisition of the land was publicised  showed that it was conspiring to help Taiwan-controlled GI A Resources Sdn Bhd proceed with the acquisition.

“This confirms that the issuance of Form H was not done to comply with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1960, but is in fact an ill-intended action to cover up the abuse of the Act,” said Razlan.

SDP had filed the judicial review application to stop the compulsory acquisition of its 75ha land in Merlimau by the Taiwan-controlled company, which had claimed to be acting in the interest of the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, to compel SDP to sell the land at below market price.

In the application filed at the High Court in Melaka, SDP also named the Melaka State Land and Mines Department, the Melaka State Government and GI A Resources as respondents.

Razlan, in his affidavit, claimed the land administrator’s  action is aimed at pressuring SDP to give up its land to GI A Resources. He accused the authorities involved of conspiring with a foreign-controlled company to oppress SDP, a Government-linked company.

“The court needs to ensure that the respondents do not act with mischief and divert the course of justice,” he said in the affirmed document.

Therefore, he urged the court to issue an interim injunction to stop the respondents from taking any further action to facilitate the compulsory acquisition of the land to the detriment of SDP.