ANTI-CORRUPTION watchdog C4 Centre today hit out at Pakatan Harapan for continuing political appointments to the board of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, which has been exposed over dubious land deals under the previous administration.

C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel said this trend persists in the new board of YWP’s trustees, with current Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad as its chairman.

Kuala Lumpur mayor Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan is also on the board, as are several top civil servants from ministries and agencies, such as Housing and Local Government, Federal Territories and Welfare, and grassroots leaders PH component parties.

These party members are Seputeh Bersatu division chief Mohamad Riadz Mohamad Hashim, PKR Sembrong coordinator Onn Abu Bakar, Federal Territory Amanah vice-chairman Ahmad Zamri Asa’ad Khuzaimi and DAP lawyer and former USJ Taipan branch pro tem vice-chairman Muhammad Khairil Khalid.

“There is a real danger of politicians sitting in foundations to abuse their position as seen in the past.

“It opens up opportunities for officials to bypass objective criteria for assessment and the selection of developers, thus facilitating cronyism, nepotism and corruption.

“This will lead to non-competent developers being awarded projects. As a result of that, the project will suffer from poor quality, increase in cost and delays,” Gabriel said in a statement.

The composition of YWP’s new board members does not differ from the previous Barisan Nasional government when Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was the federal territories minister. 

Tengku Adnan was the foundation’s previous chairman. Since BN lost power, he has been charged with receiving RM3 million in bribes from property developers in connection with his official functions as the minister at the time.

Under him, the YWP board of trustees, who also acted as directors, comprise the then KL mayor, Umno MPs and division chiefs as its members.

Gabriel said the PH government should review YWP’s structure and end political appointments.

“(There should be) an independent board of trustees with community participation and an external oversight mechanism to ensure a higher degree of accountability,” she said, also calling for public disclosure of YWP’s accounts and annual budget.

The Federal Territories Ministry under Khalid is investigating land deals in Medan Imbi, Jalan Kuchai Jaya 1 and Jalan Gombak involving YWP.

The foundation acts as the ministry’s welfare arm to help the socio-economic wellbeing of lower-income groups by generating its own funding through joint venture developments with the private sector and by selling land.

C4, which had previously highlight conflict of interest in some of these deals between Tengku Adnan and YWP, also called for further investigations into the former minister and into previous members of the board of trustees.

MPs Lim Lip Eng (Kepong) and Hannah Yeoh (Segambut) both lodged reports with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission shortly after PH took federal power last year into abuse of power by Tengku Adnan and into violations of the KL City Plan. – February 14, 2019.