Yeoh: MACC finds no corruption in KL retention pond loss as Cabinet protection order was revoked in 2016

“KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it found no wrongdoing in the alienation of land around the capital city’s flood retention pond because a 1998 directive to protect it was revoked in 2016, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Hannah Yeoh disclosed today. The directive, made by the Cabinet under the first Mahathir government in 1998, would have turned the surrounding land into reserves, but the directive was not carried out for 18 years, the minister who oversees the Federal Territories said in a statement. Yeoh previously urged MACC to investigate the land alienation in 2021. Earlier this month, she said KL’s flood retention pond has shrunk to just 30 per cent of its original size as the capital city faced days of severe flash floods caused by inclement weather. “The MACC’s investigation revealed that no elements of corruption, embezzlement, or abuse of power were found in the alienation process or the Development Orders granted by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to the developers,” Yeoh said. “This is because the MACC found that while the reservation of the flood retention pond had been approved since June 19, 1998, the gazetting process had still not been carried out at the time of the land alienation. There was an 18-year delay for action to be taken to gazette this area,” she added. The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Land Working Committee agreed to revoke the reservation approval granted on June 19, 1998, in October 2016, a move that allowed the alienation approval of 80 acres of land to be given to the developer for mixed development. The premium imposition totalled RM214 million, Yeoh revealed. MORE TO COME

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