Selangor strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong claimed Azmin’s decisive action had solved the Ijok land settlers’ 18-year dispute with the state government.
“The dispute started when Selangor was under the administration of Umno/BN and the settlers had to wait 18 years for justice.
“Azmin’s swift action helped to solve their woes, which is in line with the social justice principles and people-centric stance by the state government,” Yin said in a statement today.
The land in Ijok was initially given to a group of settlers in the state in 1998 by the then BN state government.
The settlers then agreed to allow two companies, Mujur Zaman Sdn Bhd and LBCN Development Sdn Bhd, to develop the land in exchange for compensation and housing.
It was reported in 2015 that ECO World Development Group Bhd bought a 889.5ha parcel of land in the northwestern Klang Valley corridor for RM1.18 billion to develop three property projects, worth an estimated RM15 billion in gross development value.
“The dispute which Azmin inherited was settled by selling the land to a qualified developer for RM1.18 billion, which allowed the settlers to receive compensation and their houses,” Yin said.
He added that by settling the disputes, Azmin proved to have looked after the welfare of the settlers when announcing that each would receive RM180,000 in cash and houses, now worth at least RM400,000.
Yesterday, Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan had challenged Azmin to answer lingering questions on the Ijok land deal.
Among the questions was why Azmin withdrew a court case that was pending before it was mentioned in the Federal Court and why he allowed two companies, Mujur Zaman Sdn Bhd and LBCN Development Sdn Bhd, to sell the land to a third party.
“Rahman’s questioning of the matter shows the leader is shallow in thinking and does not understand the background of the issue,” Yin said.
He also said that Azmin’s decisive action in solving the Ijok land issue proved how former Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim had taken “risks” in his actions on the same.
“The two previous court decisions favoured the state administration, that was led by Khalid. But the state was still required to pay hundreds of millions of ringgit as compensation to the two companies and the bank that granted them the loans.
“This shows that Khalid’s action came with high risk as it would affect the state’s finances,” Yin said.
In a press statement earlier today, Khalid had questioned the manner in which the transactions were carried out by the Selangor government.
“It does not reflect good business sense in managing the assets of the people of Selangor,” he added.
Both the companies had sued the Selangor state government when Khalid had seized the land from them.
However, both the High Court and Court of Appeal had held in favour of the state.
The case was still pending at the Federal Court with Azmin filed a settlement agreement in May 2016, stating the Selangor government and the two companies had reached an agreement to annul the case.
RM1.18 bil land sale: Rahman slams Azmin over ‘middleman’ companies