I won’t dance to others’ tune, says MB on sale of Seri Iskandar land

I won’t dance to others’ tune, says MB on sale of Seri Iskandar land

Perak menteri besar Saarani Mohamad says he will leave it to the authorities to investigate and is confident that they will do so with transparency.

Saarani Mohamad says the Perak Tengah District Council president has the authority to revoke the planning permission given to the company that bought the land. (Bernama pic)
IPOH:
“I will not dance to someone else’s tune,” Perak menteri besar Saarani Mohamad said with reference to several police reports lodged by politicians and state assemblymen on the issue of the sale of a plot of land that had previously been identified to be developed as an international airport in Seri Iskandar.

He added that he has no plans to lodge a similar report to the authorities as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was already investigating the matter.

“At this stage, everyone wants to make a report to the authorities because they want the attention. I will not dance to someone else’s tune.

“We will leave it to the authorities to investigate and are confident that they will do so with transparency,” he said after launching the Belia Perak Bertadarus programme and Sports Development Policy for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) at the Menteri Besar’s Office in Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan here today.

Commenting further, Saarani said his office left it to the Perak Tengah District Council (MDPT) to make a decision to revoke the planning permission given to a private company that bought the land through certain legal provisions and regulations.

“In this case, it is the president of MDPT who has the power to do so. We cannot arbitrarily decide on the matter (to cancel the planning permission) which is against the rules and laws,” he said.

Yesterday, four former Perak state executive councillors during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, namely Pasir Pinji assemblyman Howard Lee, Manjoi assemblyman Asmuni Awi, Sungai Rapat assemblyman Nizar Jamaluddin, and Simpang Pulai assemblyman Tan Kar Hing lodged a report with the MACC on the issue.

State MACC director Fauzi Mohamad said his department was conducting an investigation following an official complaint received from Asmuni yesterday.

On March 31, Saarani said the land proposed to be developed as an international airport in Seri Iskandar here was sold to a private company during the PH administration. During the Barisan Nasional administration, the said land was reserved for Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) for the purpose of building the airport.

On March 29, Aulong assemblyman Nga Kor Ming claimed during the Perak State Assembly sitting that the proposed land had been sold without permission of the state government and wanted those responsible for selling the land to be brought to justice.

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