THE Barisan Nasional government built army bases in Johor and Perak to allegedly increase the number of military voters in the constituencies of two Umno leaders, a Defence Ministry official said today.

Speaking after lodging a report at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission today, ministry special officer Mohd Nasasie Ismail said Camp Paloh in Johor and Camp Hutan Melintang in Perak were not part of the 11th Malaysia Plan.

“They were built via land-swap deals between the ministry and the private sector for the sites of Camp Kinrara in Selangor and Camp Rasah in Negri Sembilan,” Nasasie said.

Umno leaders Hishammuddin Hussein, who is Semberong MP, and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is Bagan Datuk MP, were alleged to have benefited by having an influx of military voters in their respective constituencies.

Military voters are believed to traditionally vote for Barisan Nasional, giving candidates from the former ruling coalition an advantage during elections.

“We have proof of specific political orders and direct involvement from the Election Commission in moving and increasing the number of army voters and their families to the two camps in those two parliamentary constituencies,” said Nasasie.

The land-swap deals were among the matters looked into by the Special Investigations Committee (SIC), which is tasked with looking into procurement and administrative procedures of the government. It is chaired by former auditor-general Ambrin Buang.

The deals allegedly resulted in the ministry losing more than RM500 million.

“There is overwhelming political interference and negligence in the implementation of these two projects, which has caused huge losses to the government and threatens the interests and strategic defence of the country,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement. 

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said the investigation committee found 16 land-swap projects involving 1,183ha of land owned by the ministry, at a value of RM4.756 billion and involving project costs of RM4.886 billion.

The committee presented its findings to the ministry on January 28, and the cabinet discussed them at its meeting last Wednesday. 

The ministry said the projects were not in the 11th Malaysia Plan, but allegedly political considerations were behind the instructions to build the two camps.

The ministry also said there were discrepancies in the land valuation in the land swap, which was done under the leadership of former prime minister Najib Razak.

Zahid had set the value of the Camp Kinrara site at RM500 million. 

But the Department of Property Assessment and Services (JPPH) valued the land at RM758 million.

The assessment by JPPH and value set by the government was done in May 2015. – February 21, 2019.