Tanjong MP Ng Wei Aik said according to a recent parliamentary reply, the ministry had approved about 50 EOTs this year despite a court ruling on Feb 27 that it had no power to do so.
He added that the ministry should wait for the appellate court to dispose the case before approving more EOTs.
“The High Court judgment states the housing minister has no power under the law to order the housing controller to amend a sales and purchase contract.
“In other words, Parliament has not given any powers to the minister to act that way. Since the ministers have been declared to have no powers in this matter, their orders are considered ‘ultra vires’.
“They have basically denied house buyers from claiming a 10% interest in losses for late completion of projects,” he said in a press conference outside the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters here today.
Ng said according to a written reply to Seremban MP Anthony Loke on July 27, the ministry had received 441 EOT applications, 351 of which were approved between 2014 and June 30 this year.
In his report with MACC, Ng asked the anti-graft body to investigate the current housing minister, Noh Omar, as well as his predecessor, Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
“Since such practices are still taking place despite a High Court decision that was not favourable to the government, and in the likelihood of the issue involving unspecified financial interest, I urge MACC to investigate.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court had ruled against developer BHL Construction Sdn Bhd over a 12-month extension allowed by Rahman during his time as housing minister.
The extension resulted in 104 house buyers being unable to claim compensation for the developers’ failure to meet the targeted completion date of their condominium on Jalan Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur.
Rahman, who served as urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister from May 2013 until June 2016, denied claims of power abuse, saying he had acted according to the authority vested in him as housing minister at that time.
He said the developers were given an extension after strict checks, taking into account circumstances, construction materials, natural disasters and worker issues.
Rahman said as minister, he was duty-bound to avoid the abandonment of housing projects as a result of not granting an extension to the developers.
Two DAP members in Penang, Satees Muniandy and P David Marshel, lodged a police report on the issue in March.
They showed documents that featured a letter dated Oct 20, 2014 from BHL Construction to the licensing unit of the urban wellbeing, housing and local government ministry, requesting for an extension.
They also highlighted a letter by Mohamad Yusoff Ghazali from the housing control section of the ministry, rejecting BHL’s request for the EOT on Oct 24, and a letter from Faridah Begum KA Abdul Kader, reportedly the wife of the attorney-general, to Rahman on Oct 28 asking for the extension.