Multiple land titles issued
05/04/2008 The Star By EDWARD RAJENDRA

SHAH ALAM: One common thread that seems to run in the fabric of the numerous Selangor land scam cases is ownership of land where multiple land titles had been issued although the land was occupied.

Housing, Building Structure Administration and Squatters state chairman Iskandar Abdul Samad disclosed this during a press conference yesterday.

“We have a lot of issues pertaining to land matters but one common character in the scam is the same parcel of land with multiple ownerships despite having an owner,” he said after a four-hour meeting chaired by Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Also present at the meeting were State Land and Mines Department director Nasir Hasan, State Secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud and nine district officers at the State Secretariat Building.

On Wednesday, the Selangor government opened investigations into allegations of massive land cheating cases said to run into hundreds of millions of ringgit in the state.

“We have instructed the nine district officers to compile the facts and build up a case file for each situation that involves cheating in land matters. It is a huge task but we need to get to the bottom of this issue and clear up the mess,” said Iskandar.

He added that the government wanted to ascertain whether the land scam involved groups working in the departments, local influential people from outside or even out of this state.

“All this is a burden that we have inherited from the previous government. We are the government now and it’s our responsibility to shoulder and resolve this protracted issue.

“Now we are on a fact finding mission to build up the cases. Once we have concrete proof, other agencies like the Anti-Corruption Agency can be brought in,” he said.