[UPDATED] What office raid? Zuraida pans report on search by authorities

KUALA LUMPUR – Former Ampang MP Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has dismissed a report that her office was raided by the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) yesterday.

“I will issue a statement, because the report is incorrect and misleading,” she said in a brief text to the English daily The Star.

However, she did not elaborate further on her text.

FMT had earlier reported Zuraida’s office was raided yesterday by local authorities for operating without proper approval.

“That (was) the Ampang parliamentary service centre which has been operating for almost nine years,” she was quoted as saying by the news portal.

This follows a viral tweet which claimed that MPAJ had taken action against a former minister for building an office on council land without approval.

“There was a woman who built an office on MPAJ land without permission. Action was taken today. Rumour has it that she is a former minister!” said Twitter user @lady_bugg11.

MPAJ then confirmed that the service centre had not received the necessary approval from the council.

“The service centre’s manager cooperated with MPAJ and agreed to hand the building over for us to manage,” a council spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Prior to being the plantation industries and commodities minister, Zuraida had also served as the housing and local government minister under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) governments.

Zuraida has used the same parliamentary office in Ampang during her tenure in PKR, PN and now in Parti Bangsa Malaysia.

In the 15th general election, Zuraida contested against eight others, including PKR’s Rodziah Ismail, who won the Ampang seat after securing 56,754 votes.

Zuraida only managed to secure 4,589 votes, and lost her deposit. – The Vibes, December 15, 2022