Indian opposition alleges graft in import of Malaysian ‘m-sand’

PETALING JAYA: A new controversy in India over import of sand has revealed that Malaysia has been exporting manufactured sand (m-sand) to the country, and not just river sand as previously reported.

Jagadish Shettar, the opposition leader of the state of Karnataka, on Wednesday accused the ruling Congress party in the state of misappropriating RM3.5 billion from imports of Malaysian m-sand.

He was reported by the Times of India (ToI) as claiming that the move to import the material was made without the approval of the state cabinet.

He said state-owned trading company Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) had called for global tenders for sand on May 24 last year, with the intention of importing 3.6 million tonnes in five years.

Shettar claimed that available documents showed Poseidon FZE, the company which was awarded the tender, was registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from June 18, 2017.

“It doesn’t have any experience of providing m-sand to any customer,” he was quoted as saying.

“The government has been involved in illegal sand-mining for four years. Instead of regularising local sand-mining, it decided to import m-sand from Malaysia without cabinet approval,” he added.

Unlike river sand, m-sand is derived from hard granite stone that is crushed, and is used mostly in the construction industry.

On Nov 2 last year, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had confirmed that Putrajaya had given approval to two companies to export sand to India.

He said the sand was obtained through dredging the estuaries of the Sungai Pahang and Sungai Kelantan rivers, as part of flood-mitigation efforts.

There was, however, no mention then of approval given to companies to export m-sand from Malaysia.

Shettar also claimed that the tender awarded by MSIL made no mention of quality testing as required under domestic legislation for international import and export.

Meanwhile, The Hindu newspaper today reported MSIL as refuting the graft allegation, saying that its requirement of 18 million tonnes over the next five years would entail a turnover of 70 billion rupees (RM4.3 billion) and could not be considered as misappropriation.

It said it had imported only 935 tonnes of sand worth about 3.7 million rupees (RM227,000), with sales to the local market having just started.

It also said the tender documents provided by the company had been found to be in order by the tender technical committee.