SHAH ALAM, Aug 5 — Berjaya Land Berhad has said it will take legal action against Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, following the ‘baseless accusations’ over the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project, which has recently made headlines.
Its group chief executive officer Syed Ali Shahul Hameed said Berjaya Land is taking immediate action by filing a police report and legal steps to protect their rights in the matter.
“In essence, the false accusations by Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi are completely baseless and lack any supporting evidence. These statements were made purely with malicious intent and clearly aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Berjaya Land and undermining our commitment, as well as the state government’s commitment, to the development of Selangor and its people,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Syed Ali was referring to Sanusi’s remarks, made during a political ceramah at Dataran Darul Aman in Jitra, Kedah recently, on the cleaning and development of Sungai Klang River under SMG.
During the ceramah, Sanusi reportedly claimed that Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari was connected to a ‘river project scandal’ with Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan. He further alleged that Tan seeks to develop a RM10 billion project via the acquisition of some 600 acres of land in the state.
The group addressed each of Sanusi’s claims, beginning with Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated) or MBI selling 55 per cent of the shares in its wholly-owned subsidiary to Berjaya Land and/or its related companies.
“There was no such alleged sale, and in actuality, a special purpose company via a joint venture between MBI’s subsidiary Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd or LLSB (at 45 per cent) and Berjaya Hartanah Berhad (at 55 per cent) known as Landasan Lumayan Berjaya Sdn Bhd (LLBSB) was formed to clean and develop Sungai Klang, among other objectives.
“The joint venture/LLBSB drives property development, with a specific focus on affordable housing projects as a continuous funding mechanism to sustain the crucial river cleaning effort under the SMG project,” he said.
Syed Ali added the SMG project initiative has also received recognition from the Green World Awards 2023 for its efforts to clean up Sungai Klang, and the positive effects are clearly visible as the river’s water quality has improved from Class Four to Class Two.
“On the claim that Berjaya Land and/or its related companies were given 600 acres of land in Selangor worth RM10 billion for free, we have never received or been given such lands with such worth.
“In fact, only several parcels of land measuring 103.6 acres have been approved for ownership by the state government to the joint venture/LLBSB after these lands were deemed suitable for development.
“Berjaya Land is required to raise funds to pay the premium for transferring ownership rights to the land, based on market rates,” he said.
Lastly, Syed Ali addressed the claim that Selangor incurred RM180 million in losses as a result of its involvement in the joint venture with Berjaya Land and/or its related companies and/or providing 600 acres of land to Berjaya and/or its related companies for free.
“Berjaya Land and/or its related companies did not receive 600 acres of land for free, nor did Selangor incur RM180 million in losses from the supposedly ‘free’ land. Only 103.6 acres of land were approved for ownership by the state government to the joint venture/LLBSB, where 45 per cent of the shares in LLBSB are held and owned by MBI’s subsidiary.
“The joint venture will also make a RM113.1 million payment as a premium for the 103.6 acres, based on the current market value determined by the Government Property Valuation Department, namely, the Department of Valuation and Property Services. To this, Berjaya and/or its related companies will raise funds for the joint venture to pay the premium,” he said.
Berjaya Land is the latest party to seek legal remedy over Sanusi’s remarks. Amirudin initiated legal proceedings over alleged defamation and slander yesterday, while on Wednesday (August 2) LLSB said it has served a letter of demand to an individual linked to PN over defamatory remarks made against the firm and the SMG project.
