A MAN in Hulu Langat has alleged that a land grant he shared with prospective buyers through WhatsApp was manipulated by irresponsible parties, leading to the encroachment of a 1.16-hectare parcel of land in Semungkis.
In a post on his Facebook page, Mustaza Mohd Yusof said he had been verbally appointed by the landowner in September 2024 to look for buyers for the property and to oversee the land, as the owner was in poor health.
According to Mustaza, he began advertising the land online and received enquiries from several interested parties.
“After I advertised the land online, several buyers made enquiries.
“I, as the seller’s representative, showed the land grant to several buyers through the WhatsApp application to make it easier for them to consider,” he said.
At the time, the land contained a small hut and fruit trees. However, Mustaza said that after nearly a year without securing a buyer, he visited the land less frequently due to other work commitments.
On Oct 21 last year, he returned to the site and discovered that part of the land had been cleared using heavy machinery.
“I asked the landowner about this matter, and the owner also did not know anything about it,” Mustaza said.
He later encountered a woman speaking with an Indonesian accent, accompanied by three adult men, who claimed to be the owners of the land. According to Mustaza, they said they were clearing and levelling the land for the purpose of selling subdivided agricultural plots, commonly referred to as “lot lidi”.
“I pretended to be interested and secretly recorded a video, telling them that I was also interested in buying the ‘lot lidi’ they were selling, and the woman gave me her phone number so we could discuss further,” he said.
Mustaza later contacted the woman using a different phone number. During their conversation, she showed him a copy of the main land grant, which he recognised as the same document he had previously shared with prospective buyers.
“I informed the landowner about this and showed the video evidence before lodging reports with the police and the land office.
“Up until Jan 1, there was still no action from the land office, while the police advised me to gather more evidence, namely a sales offer letter from the woman, so that the case could be classified more clearly as a commercial crime,” he said.
However, Mustaza said he was unable to obtain such a document, as the woman allegedly dealt mainly with Indonesian buyers and did not use formal sale and purchase agreements.
Following discussions with the landowner, they decided to remove the encroachers themselves and demand compensation for the damage caused to the land, the wooden hut and the fruit trees.
“The encroachers were finally driven out last Saturday after I met the woman and her husband at the land.
“The hut built on the land was demolished by me. She promised to pay compensation and not to return to the land. Compensation amounting to RM30,000 was paid into the landowner’s account,” Mustaza said.
He added that he made the social media post to warn the public against dealing with the woman in relation to the sale of the subdivided plots on the land.
“Up to Jan 4, I still found that she was continuing to convince buyers about the ‘lot lidi’ that she opened fraudulently,” he said. - January 8, 2025
