FORMER Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein was grilled by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for seven hours today over the land swap deals involving real estate belonging to the ministry.

Hishammuddin said that he was satisfied at the professionalism shown by the MACC and would co-operate fully to help the investigation.

However, said investigations and any resultant prosecutions should not be made selectively.

“If you want to talk about the land swaps, make sure you talk about the 16 land swaps. If you want to talk about procedures, let us see the procedures used during previous leadership either by the previous prime minister or minister of defence.

“I have answered questions involving Paloh (camp in Johor) in detail today but don’t stop there because there were 16 land swaps.

“Let’s see who the culprits are, who is wrong because we want to get down to the truth. I have nothing to hide,” he said.

Hishammuddin hoped that the investigation would be conducted without bias because he hoped for justice.

“If there is a need to raise anything, I will not hesitate to help because we want to find out the truth. Let’s get to the bottom of this,” he said.

To date, Hishammuddin said he had only been questioned about the Paloh land swap.

“Who is the one (who had) actually lost money, who are the contractors that were given land swap contracts in the past, who actually benefited. I have said categorically, I have not benefited one sen from any of the land swaps,” he said, adding that he believed he was acting for the welfare of the soldiers and their families.

“Where are you going to find the money other than to build their camps. If they were clever at talking, at accusing, they should have given me suggestions on what to do for the welfare of our soldiers and their families. That is my emphasis,” he said.

In February, it was reported that the Ministry of Defence revealed that the government lost more than RM500 million in land swaps believed to have taken place since 1997.

Minister of Defence Mohamad Sabu was reported to have said that the matter was revealed following investigation by the Special Investigation Committee on Procurement, Governance and Finance headed by Ambrin Buang on January 28.

All losses and leakages were reported involving 16 projects comprising 1,200ha of land belonging to the ministry worth RM4.7 billion and projected cost of RM4.8 billion.

‘‘I will give my co-operation” to any further enquiries he said, while adding that the helicopter deal was not discussed in the interview with the MACC today.

On June 13, the Ministry of Defence lodged a report with the MACC on the purchase of six helicopters worth more than RM300 million in 2015, none of which have been delivered. – Bernama, June 23, 2019.