The following are excerpts from various reports about a matter heard in the mid-90s, in which Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and others were sued by property developer Stamford Holdings S/B:
Stamford Holdings Sdn. Bhd. has sued Muhyiddin Yassin, chief minister of the Johor state, and businessmen Yahya Talib and Syed Mokhtar Albukhary for damages for alleged conspiracy in acquiring land in Johor through the Land Acquisition Act, the Bernama national news agency reported Friday.
According to Bernama, Stamford Holdings claimed the three had abused provisions of the Act to acquire its 6,600 acres of land through the Johor State Islamic Economic Development Corporation.
The suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court early this month but was transferred Friday to the Johor Baru High Court, Bernama said.
Stamford Holdings also named the Johor state government as a defendant in the suit, alleging that Muhyiddin and the two businessmen conspired to use the state government's authority to acquire the land.
According to the news report, Stamford Holdings wants the court to declare that the Johor State Islamic Economic Development Corporation was not entitled to invoke provisions of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire a private landed property.
Malaysia's Stamford Sues Minister, Businessmen - Report, 17 February 1995
The facts of the matter as reported by Murray Hiebert , FEER:
Stamford's court documents insist that the company's relationship with the former chief minister dates back to 1988. Four years earlier, the firm had tried to develop some of its huge land holdings near the state capital of Johor Baru. But Stamford couldn't get approval for its project until its directors met two men who were allegedly Muhyiddin's business partners, Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and Datuk Yahaya Tabib.
The two arranged a meeting in Singapore between the firm's representatives and the former chief minister, the firm's documents allege. Within a year, Stamford and the three men had formed a 70-30 joint venture to develop some 724 hectares of land. When the property was sold in 1994, the Muhyiddin group's initial investment of M$1.8 million ($735,000) had soared to M$83 million.
In the meantime, Muhyiddin's group had become "very avaricious," according to the documents Stamford filed in court, and wanted to form a second joint venture in which they would control 70% of the shares but would pay Stamford only M$74,100 per hectare for its remaining 2,672 hectares, company officials charge.
When Stamford insisted on retaining its original 70% and on being paid M$185,250 per hectare for its property, one of Muhyiddin's associates allegedly warned the company that the land-acquisition papers were on the former chief minister's desk and could be "signed at any time." Muhyiddin himself allegedly threatened Stamford in December 1992 by telling one of its directors that "time is getting short." In July 1994, the state government acquired the land on behalf of the Johor Islamic Economic Development Corp.
MALAYSIA: The Privileged Few,By Murray Hiebert in Kuala Lumpur, 6 July 1995,Far Eastern Economic Review
The facts of the matter as reported by Raphael Pura, AWSJ :
In 1984, Stamford -- which is 90% owned by three families, the Singapore-based Seet family, and the Gan and Wang families from Malaysia -- applied to the Johor government for permission to develop a light industrial estate on part of the land. Stamford, in its suit, claims nothing happened until 1988. Then, Stamford directors met businessmen Syed Mokhtar and Datuk Yahaya, who said they were Tan Sri Muhyiddin's "close friends and business associates," according to the Stamford suit.
According to Stamford's court submission, the company in late 1989 agreed with Syed Mokhtar and Datuk Yahaya, "acting for themselves and [Tan Sri Muhyiddin]," to create a joint-venture company to develop 1,766 acres of Stamford's property. The Johor trio, led by Syed Mokhtar, invested 1.8 million ringgit in the joint venture, taking 30% of its equity; Stamford held the remainder. The joint-venture company acquired the property from Stamford and submitted a fresh application to convert it to industrial use. The Johor government then approved the conversion "speedily," Stamford says in its suit in which it also alleges that the Mokhtar group "made a clean profit of 83.2 million."
According to Stamford, the Mokhtar group in 1992 approached Stamford's directors, proposing to develop the remaining 6,520 acres of Stamford's Johor property. This time, Stamford alleges, the group insisted on taking a 70% equity stake in a new joint venture and proposed that Stamford's land be sold to the venture at 30,000 ringgit an acre. Stamford protested that it wanted to hold 70% of the venture and should be paid more than twice that price for the land.
Malaysian Company Continues Suit Challenging State Acquisition of Land, By Raphael Pura, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal, 16 June 1995,The Wall Street Journal
The case concluded in an out of court settlement.
The land acquisition civil suit filed by a firm against the Johor government and several other parties was settled today for a total of RM405 million.
The High Court ordered Stamford Holdings Sdn Bhd to be paid the amount for the acquisition of 6,544 acres of land belonging to it.
The consent order was given by Justice Zainun Ali in chambers.
Under the settlement, the Johor government is to pay the plaintiff RM313.25 million while Kelana Ventures Sdn Bhd was ordered to pay RM92.12 million.
Datuk V. Sivaparanjothi and Manjit Singh appeared for the plaintiff while Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim appeared for the Johor State Government, Johor Baru Land Administrator and former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Roger Tan Kor Mee appeared for Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Islam Negeri Johor.
The judge further ordered that all the civil suits, civil appeals and miscellaneous civil applications by the plaintiff be settled and disposed of.
The compensation sum of RM313.25 million is to be deposited in the High Court by or on behalf of the Land Administrator to be paid out to Stamford.
The additional sum of RM92.11 million is to be paid to Stamford by Kelana Ventures, which is one of the interveners/defendants in the case.
The payment is to be made in settlement of the compulsory acquisition of the Stamford properties by the Land Administrator on behalf of Kelana Ventures before the expiry of 18 months from the date of the consent order.
The dispute between Stamford and the defendants involved the whole of the Stamford properties in the mukim of Tebrau, Johor Baru District and involved a total of 6,544.4172 acres which were compulsorily acquired.
Johor govt, parties to pay the sum for land compulsorily acquired.
Land case settled for RM405m. By JOTHI JEYASINGAM ,7 October 1999 The Sun
SOURCE: GANESH
salam
ReplyDeletedah lama dah isu=isu tanah berbangkit di negeri johor,tiap kali menteri besar berubah isu tanah ini sudah menjadi amalan biasa,johor ini tanahnya luas...kita ini orang kampong tidak tahu apa-apa,hanya berebut/undian hendak dapatkan rumah murah...itu pun tidak dapat.
janji nakjual/sewa beli, last-last
sewanya sampai kemati.
orang kampong susah lagi sekarang harga kelapa sawir rendah peneroka hendak makan apa??????????????????
johor ini unit,terlalu banyak tanah,sehingga rakyat singapare dapat beli tanah/rumah,sesuka hati siap ,adalagi perkampongan kamboja yang kaya raya,kita bukan hendak pertikai tapi kita cuma hairan atas kemasukan kaum pendatang ini.
Rakyat-rakyat di kawasan industrial pasir gudang sudah lama menderita kerana kesesatan lalu lintas utama untuk ke johor baru.
banyangkan perkara ini sudah berlanjutan hampir 20 tahun lalu.kalau hendak buang air besar ketika memandu tahi boleh jadi keras mcm batu,
hari lepas juga berlaku rampasan
tanah setinggan diplentong hak milik syarikat-SYARIKAT YANG KAYA RAYA-RAKYAT CARI TANAH.
DALAM KEADAAN SEKARANG KESAN KEJATUHAN EKONOMI DUNIA-AKAN BERLANJUTAN HINGGA PERTENGAHAN TAHUN HADAPAN-SYARIKAT SUDAH MULA TERASA KESANNYA,
BAGIMANA KERJAAAN HENDAK BERTAHAN -JUAL TANAH,YANG ADA BALAK JUAL KAYU.
ADAKAH DUIT SEBANYAK ITU KERJAAN NEGERI JOHOR NAK BAYAR- KENA HUTANG DRP kerjaan persekutuan-hutang lama masih banyak.lambat-lambat tak apa ,kalau kerjaanbaru pkr ,yang kena bayar hutang nanti.
jual apa-apa lagi dekat singapore.
jual air,jual pasir,jual batu putih.pulau pisang nanti kena jualJUGA. Bandar Iskandar tidak tahu apa cerita...singapore ada bahagian.... takkan tidak ada % untuk ahli-ahli yang berhormat.
tapi itu awak punyai pasal.....
janji rakyat tidak trpinggir dengan projet tersebut.Bukan hanya rakyat johor sahaja tapi rakyat pas/PAS KEL. JUGA MASUK.DAPAT BAHAGIAN DRP KEMAJUAN PESAT NEGERI JOHOR.
JANGAN BAWA PERKERJA ASING PULAK NANTI....................
SEMALAM ADA BANYAK SYARIKAT BUAT BUAT TEMUDUGA UNTUK PERKERJA-PERKERJA BARU-DEKAT GIANT-DIA OFFER GAJI RM925 TIDAK TERMASUK OVER TIME-SAYA BERTUGAS SEBAGI JAGA/LALU LINTAS DEKAT EXPO TERSEBUT .SEMALAM PENAT HARI INI KENA SAMBUNG LAGI TAPI LOKASI YANG LAIN DAN TUGAS YANG LAIN.ORANG MCM SAYA KENA BERTUGAS NAK CARI DUIT....BIAR ORANG POLITIK CARI DUIT....SAMA SAMA CARI DUIT HALAL.