KUALA LUMPUR – A news portal has run a series of articles alleging Khalid Abdul Samad backed a property developer’s bid for a tract of land here when he was Federal Territories minister.
Among its findings was that Khalid backed a company by the name of Saujana Beringin Sdn Bhd, linked to a sibling of a former prime minister.
MalaysiaNow wrote: “Checks by MalaysiaNow have also revealed several familiar names in a web of ownership linking them to Saujana Beringin.
“They include a younger sibling of a former prime minister, whose company holds a controlling stake in another company that holds a 100% stake in Saujana Beringin.”
The news portal did not identify the “younger sibling” or “familiar names”, but company filings show that the sibling in question is Datuk Mohamed Nazim Razak, a brother of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The filings also show that Nazim surfaced in the company only on March 30 this year.
This means the firm was not – at least on paper – associated with Nazim when Khalid threw his weight behind Saujana Beringin.
Saujana Beringin’s ownership pattern is as such – the company’s directors are Nurul Syazana Zainudin and Mohd Azmir Khairuzzani Suwarto, while the sole shareholder is Amalan Awana Sdn Bhd.
Azmir Khairuzzani is an Umno member. His last post was Tebuk Bengkang Umno Youth chief. Tebuk Bengkang is in Bagan Datuk, a federal seat in Perak held by Umno president and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Amalan Awana’s directors are Wan Mohd Zamri Wan Ibrahim, Mubarak Hussain Akhtar Husin, Lee Wah Lian and Mohamad Yani Markamdan, while the company’s shareholders are Gigih Emas Sdn Bhd and Cara Innovasi Sdn Bhd.
Cara Innovasi and Gigih Emas own Amalan Awana with a 60:40 shareholding.
Mubarak Hussain is an associate of Zahid, whom the former has known since 2008, when they met at Kg Baru Mosque.
Mubarak Hussain has been the owner of Seri Jaya Perkasa Sdn Bhd since 2002. The company had a lucrative contract with the Home Ministry relating to the deportation of irregular migrants. He has also testified in Zahid’s corruption trial.
Cara Innovasi’s sole director and shareholder is Nazim. Prior to him, the company’s owners were Yani and Wan Zamri.
Gigih Emas’ directors and equal owners are Lee and Mubarak Hussain.
MalaysiaNow alleged that Khalid backed Saujana Beringin’s bid to overturn the revocation of approval for the transfer of a plot in Batu district for a mixed development project.
Khalid justified the act, saying the project would benefit the urban poor as part of it was for affordable housing.
He added that it was in line with his then ministry’s goal of providing a million affordable homes in Kuala Lumpur.
He said he instructed his aide Azli Yusof to follow up on the request by Saujana Beringin as he was not part of the Kuala Lumpur land executive committee.
The Federal Territories Land and Mines Office approved the company’s application for land in December 2017, but revoked it in November 2018, shortly after Pakatan Harapan formed the government and Khalid made his ministerial debut.
Saujana Beringin then appealed directly to Khalid in December that year. – The Vibes, September 28, 2021
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