KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib told the High Court that Kuala Lumpur City Hall received many applications from developers to purchase its lands when Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was appointed Federal Territories minister.
The former mayor, who was the 18th prosecution witness in Tengku Adnan’s corruption trial, said the applications came in form of “outright sales”.
This, he said, was not the conventional way City Hall dealt with its properties.
Outright sales is a selling of land “belonging” to the KL mayor to developers for specific purposes, for example for affordable housing projects.
“When I was mayor, we usually opted for joint ventures between City Hall and developers. We do not have a standard operating procedure (SOP) for outright sales as it was new to us at that time.
“The applications usually went through the minister’s office and the process usually starts with an application by a developer to buy and develop any land belonging to us (City Hall),” said Phesal.
He said the developer would send a letter to the minister’s office and the minister would leave a “for consideration” note on it.
“We never advertise our land. We received many applications from developers to purchase our land when Tengku Adnan was appointed as the minister back in 2013,” he said, adding that City Hall could not sell its land without the minister’s consent.
On a separate matter, Phesal said City Hall once rejected a developer’s application to purchase its land for an affordable housing project.
“When I was the mayor, I once rejected Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd which applied to purchase two plots of land in Bandar Tun Razak as we (City Hall) had planned to build a hostel for our training centre nearby.
“However, the company wrote a letter to the minister for reconsideration. Tengku Adnan had minuted the letter and told me to refer it to the special One Stop Centre (OSC).
“The special OSC meeting chaired by the minister later decided that City Hall should agree to the proposed development, including building affordable units, other housing units and a hostel for City Hall on a 0.5-acre (0.2ha) site,” he said.
The prosecution, in its opening statement, had alleged that there was conflict of interest between Tengku Adnan's post as the then Federal Territories Minister and Aset Kayamas' property developing activities.
Aset Kayamas was founded by properties tycoon Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong in 2011, with a primary focus on delivering homes that were founded on quality and affordability.
Phesal said Chai had bought 10 pieces of land belonging to City Hall for the Federal Territories Affordable Housing (Rumawip) project.
Tengku Adnan is charged with accepting RM2 million from Chai, whom he knew had a connection with his official function, via a cheque belonging to Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd, which was deposited into a bank account belonging to Tadmansori Holding Sdn Bhd, in which the accused had interest.
He allegedly committed the offence in his capacity as a public servant, which was the Federal Territories Minister at the time, at CIMB Bank Bhd, Pusat Bandar Damansara branch, level 1, Lot A4, Block A, Pusat Bandar Damansara, here, on June 14, 2016.
The trial continues tomorrow before Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.