Government Hopes Courts Will Jail Errant Developers
Bernama 21/4/2006

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 (Bernama) -- The government hopes the courts will impose stiffer punishment on errant housing developers including sentencing them to jail, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the government viewed the matter seriously as it involved large sums of investments by the public to buy houses.

"It's not that we are taking it lightly. We are hoping for the courts to impose heavier punishment like jail sentences to act as deterrent to other developers," he said when winding up the debate on the Ninth Malaysia Plan for his ministry.

Ong also said that the ministry's enforcement division had prepared the papers to charge several errant developers in court but such cases took a long time before they were heard.

He said so far 13,000 cases of developers who disregarded awards made by the Housebuyers Claims Tribunal had been settled but there were still hundreds of other cases awaiting prosecution.

The Dewan will sit again on Monday.

-- BERNAMA