KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Territories Umno Youth chief Datuk Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii has urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate what he claims to be biased and unlawful sales of Ramadan bazaar stalls in Masjid India recently.
In a statement issued Friday, he claimed there had been abuse of power by a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) Youth leader and a Federal Territories member of parliament in the sale to traders.
Razlan claimed the stalls were sold for a higher price compared to the nominal charges set by City Hall.
“By right, each stall is only RM80 but it was brought to our knowledge that the stalls were sold at a much higher prices to traders. (The PPBM Youth leader) had used his political connections to rake in hundreds of thousands of ringgit this way.
“This is abuse of power by the PPBM to suppress and influence City Hall public servants in order to gain profit,” he said.
Razlan said the new government had not gone through a transparent process in granting the stalls to traders.
He claimed the MP was also involved in abuse of power, by using his position to press public servants to approve the sales at higher prices.
“As members of parties which are part of the ruling government, these two individuals are using their positions for personal gain. I urge MACC to act in a transparent manner to safeguard the interests of civil servants and the public,” he said.
Razlan was commenting on the controversy which erupted recently when pictures of two letters purportedly issued by the PPBM Youth leader and City Hall surfaced on social media.
The first letter was allegedly a support letter issued by the Youth leader to obtain City Hall’s approval to set up a Ramadan bazaar.
The second letter was from City Hall to the Youth leader, indicating that 80 stalls had been approved for business for nine days at slightly over RM6,200 each.
Social media users claimed the Youth leader had raked in up to RM5,000 from each plot.