KUALA LUMPUR: The ministry of defence (Mindef) allegedly lost RM258 million by selling the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Kinrara, Puchong at a 34% discount to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary in a politically motivated land swap deal, said sources contacted by The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.

The sources said a company owned by Syed Mokhtar, Kelana Ventures Sdn Bhd (KVSB), was the private party involved in the land swap agreement for the 101.81-acre (41.2ha) base.

Earlier yesterday Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu’s special functions officer, Mohd Nasasie Ismail, told reporters the land had been swapped for RM500 million although it had been valued at RM758 million by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH). Both valuations had taken place in May 2015, he said.

In return, he said, a private party which he did not name, had agreed to build a new military base in Paloh (which is in Sembrong, Johor) and the new RMAF headquarters and a new logistics training centre on the military base in Sendayan, Negeri Sembilan.

The ministry had also overvalued the land in Paloh, which it acquired via a land swap at a 43% premium, Nasasie said. The 62-acre (25ha)plot had been acquired by Mindef at RM10.47 million, although JPPH valued the land at only RM7.28 million, he explained.

In another dubious land swap deal, Mindef had swapped its base in Rasah, Negeri Sembilan to build a new base in Hutan Melintang, which is in Bagan Datuk, Perak, Nasasie said yesterday.

The Paloh and Hutan Melintang bases were not part of Mindef’s original plans under the 11th Malaysia Plan, he added.

Nasasie also said that there had been no formal approval and signed contracts between the government and private sector companies involved in the construction of both bases.

The land swaps were used to boost votes for Umno politicians, specifically Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic) in Sembrong and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Bagan Datuk, both of whom were defence ministers in turn while the deals were negotiated, Nasasie said.

Ahmad Zahid, who this week was slapped with a second criminal breach of trust charge involving some RM260,000 belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi, was defence minister from 2009 to 2013. He was succeeded by Hishammuddin, who held the post from 2013 to 2018.

They are also currently the members of parliament for Bagan Datuk and Sembrong respectively.

“We have proof of specific political orders and direct involvement from the Election Commission in moving and increasing the army voter base and their families to the two camps involving those two parliamentary constituencies,” said Nasasie.

Nasasie was at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Agency (MACC) headquarters yesterday to submit the findings on the two land swaps based on the final report on the matter from the special committee investigating governance, procurement and finance headed by former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang.

He said Mindef will continue to update MACC on subsequent findings of the special committee’s reports which had been tabled at a cabinet meeting on Feb 13.

According to the findings, 1,286ha of Mindef land, worth RM4.76 billion and with development costs of RM4.89 billion, had been involved in the land swap deals.

The initial objective of the Hutan Melintang base had been to increase military presence on Peninsular Malaysia’s west coast by transferring troops from the Tambun and Kamunting bases, said Nasasie.

“However, only wataniah (territorial) troops were transferred to Hutan Melintang,” he said. The transfer of troops from the Tambun and Kemunting base camps subsequently did not happen, he added.

According to Nasasie, the camps were opened in 2017 and have been operational since last year. The troops were transferred there ahead of the May 9, 2018 general election, he said.

In a press statement yesterday, Hishammuddin said that he welcomed the findings of the special committee.

“I have always been consistent since before and never held back, I have nothing to hide,” he said.

He said that the findings are “merely a distraction for the rakyat from the fact that the [Pakatan Harapan government] is not performing at all.”

On Wednesday, Mindef announced that government funds in excess of RM500 million is believed to have been leaked via 16 of the ministry’s land swap deals.