Pua: Putrajaya continues bailout of 1MDB with 106 Exchange Tower buy

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): An opposition lawmaker has questioned the need for the government to use taxpayers’ funds to get involved in another mega-property project.

In a statement yesterday, DAP’s Tony Pua, citing a report by The Edge Malaysia weekly, said the finance ministry’s (MoF) bailout of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) continues unabated with its latest acquisition of 106 Exchange Tower to be built at the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) here.

Pua, who is member of parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara and DAP national publicity secretary, pointed out that Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani had announced a cabinet decision to freeze all high-end commercial and residential projects.

“Why is the finance ministry participating in the aggravation of the property glut in the country?

“More importantly, if Mulia Group had paid RM665 million for the land, the question is how much did the finance ministry pay to acquire the 51% stake in the project?” he asked.

Pua stressed that the complete lack of transparency over the deal which would involve hundreds of millions of ringgit, possibly to the tune of billions, raises suspicions that it is really another one in the series of continued bailouts of the debt-stricken 1MDB.

He added that this would be the second tract of 1MDB’s TRX land that has been bought by MoF companies.

He said it was previously disclosed in Parliament that the MoF-owned company Aroma Teraju had purchased another tract of land at the TRX development in 2015.

“Last year, I asked several times in Parliament for the land area and purchase price of the land by Aroma Teraju.

“However, my question was repeatly shot down because of the purported confidentiality clause in the purchase agreement was with two companies wholly-owned by MoF.

“Why hide behind the veil of secrecy when the parties involved are entirely owned by the government?” he asked.

Pua called on the MoF and 1MDB to confirm and disclose the details of the purchases of the land in TRX above. “As wholly-owned companies under the government, the public deserves to know what is being done with their own money,” he said.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Jan 9, 2018.

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