“That (was) the Ampang parliamentary service centre which has been operating for almost nine years,” she said briefly when contacted.

She was replying to a query from FMT about a viral tweet which claimed that the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) had taken action against a woman, who was a former minister, for building an office on MPAJ land without permission.

“There was a woman who built an office on MPAJ land without permission. Action was taken today. Rumour has it that she is a former minister,” said Twitter user @lady_bugg11.

Zuraida was the former plantation industries and commodities minister. She has been the Ampang MP since 2008 but failed to defend her seat in last month’s general election. It was won by Pakatan Harapan’s Rodziah Ismail.

An aide to Rodziah said the newly-elected MP was not operating out of the centre. She explained that parliamentarians could choose whether to rent private office space for their parliamentary service centre or rent an office from the local authority.

When contacted, MPAJ said that the service centre had not received approval from the council.

“The service centre’s manager cooperated with MPAJ and agreed to hand the building over for us to manage,” a spokesman told FMT.

Zuraida has since explained that the property has been handed back to MPAJ.

“I am no longer an MP,” she said, adding the building was not being used as a Parti Bangsa Malaysia office.