Updated: Rubber Board refutes allegations of selling land assets, says nothing has been agreed upon

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 – The Rubber Board of Malaysia or Lembaga Getah Malaysia (LGM) today refuted allegations that it was in the process of selling and leasing out respectively two of its land assets, namely Lot 20012 (lot 75) and Lot 20013 (Lot 76) in Jalan Ampang here.

In a statement issued today, the LGM said claims made in the social media sites, were not true and factually wrong.

LGM had received offers from several companies including both for the purchase of Lot 75 and leasehold of Lot 76, but nothing has been formalised or agreed upon as all the applications would require the approval of the Board before it is sent to the Minister of Agriculture and Commodities, Datuk Dr. Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali for approval.

The offer to buy Lot 75 would be considered in synch with the assessment made by the Department of Valuation and Property Services, the Finance Ministry and the views of the National Heritage Department.

As for leasing out Lot 76, the lease offer was made through an open tender made by LGM Properties Corporation, a subsidiary of LGM in October 2020. Several companies made their bids and based on the tight criteria set out by LGMPC, the UK-based Al-Noor Foundation was selected as it was the highest bidder.

However, it said no decision has been taken by the Board yet on both the sale of Lot 25 or the leasing of Lot 26 and hence no sales transactions have taken place and neither an agreement has been made for the leasehold, the statement said.

Without the Board’s consent, the process of getting approval from the minister has also not taken place, it said.

Meanwhile, in its Facebook page today, a non governmental organisation Sedar Malaysia claimed that it had documents and letters showing that the Minister had agreed to lease Lot 76 to Al Noor Foundation at a lower than market price and the sale of Lot 75 to Eurowhite Sdn Bhd, also at a lower than market price.

The LGM is chaired by Jerantut MP and Umno politician Ahmad Nazlan Idris. Two board members are PAS members Nurul Islam Mohamed Yusoff and Muhammad Ismi bin Mat Taib.

— WE