MALACCA: Commenting on a brewing land cheating case here allegedly involving two DAP members, Khoo Poay Tiong (DAP- Ayer Keroh) today stressed that the land deal offered in Kelantan “is genuine”, and that he is not involved in the case.
Khoo, who stopped short of clarifying his involvement in the case, said he will call for a press conference with the two DAP members named in a police report on the case, to clear the air over the matter.
"The land deal is genuine, but it has nothing to do with corruption.
"I will arrange for a press conference and invite the duo; Wong Chi Sing and Chua Soon Teck, mentioned in the police report, to explain the chronology of the case from A to Z, to explain what had actually transpired," Khoo told a press conference at the state assembly lobby at Seri Negeri here today.
Earlier, during a question-and-answer session, Goh Leong San (Independent-Duyong) had asked Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron to brief the assembly on a Tanjung Minyak police report.
Idris said that the report, being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, was lodged by a 50-year-old farmer on Dec 14, 2016.
"In the police report, the defendants, Wong Chi Sing and Chua Soon Teck, are alleged to have offered help to the complainant to obtain approval to lease a 500-acre plot of land in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, on condition that the complainant offers a donation to Pas to fund the election.
"The two men then took the complainant to meet Khoo Poay Tiong, to confirm what was said by Wong and Chua.
"After being convinced by Khoo, the complainant made several transactions to Wong's bank account (RM528,000) and to Mohd Haffiz Mohd Rasdir, via Pasir Mas Pas Youth chief's bank account (RM448,300), between 2012 and Jan 2014," Idris said.
Idris added that the complainant, after seeing no progress in the land application and discovering that the suspects were unable to produce any documentation related to the leasing of the land, lodged a police report, as he felt that he had been cheated.
Khoo, who is also the state DAP liaison secretary, said the question was ill-intended and that Goh was trying to smear his image and the DAP.
"I am not guilty. I am not afraid and I welcome the authorities to conduct investigations on me,” he said.
A related question, on a police investigating officer advising the same complainant to amend the police report, was also submitted by Chin Choong Seong (Independent-Kesidang), but the question-and-answer session ended before it could be answered by Idris.
Khoo added that he is considering legal action against his former allies, Goh and Chin, and challenged them to repeat the accusations outside the state legislative assembly.
On Thursday, Malacca MCA Youth urged the DAP to come forward and address allegations made against a DAP assemblyman’s aide and a Pas Youth leader in an alleged land scam.
MCA Youth chief Lim Swee Hu said the public should be given an explanation on DAP’s involvement in the case, which is said to involve a 202-hectare plot of land in a forest reserve in Kelantan.