PETALING JAYA: PKR Youth Information Chief Lee Chean Chung called for Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chief Hasan Arifin to take a leave of absence if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) were to conduct investigations on Hasan over a land deal.

“This is to protect PAC’s integrity,” Lee said in a statement today.

He also urged MACC outgoing Chief Commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed to prioritise the case before his work period expires in August.

“Somebody benefited from it (the land deal). What is legally right might not be ethically right.

“It may have been done within the law, but morally, it could be subject to corruption,” he told FMT when elaborating on his statement.

Last week, Lee had accused Hasan of buying a plot of land at below market price and selling it later to a non-Bumiputera buyer.

He alleged that the privately-owned land was purchased by Hasan for RM76,499 in 2002, even though the land was valued at the time, according to stamp duty valuation, at RM213,000.

He also alleged that Hasan had at the time of the 2002 purchase held the position of deputy menteri besar in Pahang.

“He clearly bought the land at a lower price and there was a conflict of interest in the purchase of the land.

“The land was later sold at five times the purchase price. Hence, the profit made from the sale was RM321,184.02,” Lee said.