Tuesday July 14, 2009
New twist to Buah Pala saga
By CHRISTINA CHIN, K. KASTURI DEWI and ANDREA FILMER
GEORGE TOWN: The Kampung Buah Pala land dispute took on a new twist with its residents association chairman apologising to the state and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for “all that has happened.”
M. Sugumaran (pic) said he was apologising “on behalf of the residents” but association secretary J. Steven and assistant secretary C. Tharmaraj denied knowing anything about the apology.
“We are sorry for everything that has happened but we were worried about losing our homes,” Sugumaran told a press conference at the Dewan Sri Pinang after the investiture ceremony in conjunction with the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas’ 71st birthday celebration yesterday.
Sugumaran also denied that lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira was their “official legal representative” although the lawyer claimed he was with Tharmaraj preparing affidavits for the residents even as Sugumaran made the apology.
Lim, who was also present at the press conference, said he accepted the apology and would meet with a representative from each of the 23 affected families at 8pm on Thursday.
Darshan, however, said Tharmaraj called him at about 2pm yesterday to confirm that he was still the lawyer on record for the residents. The residents, he said, had given him a letter of authority to represent them.
“Both Tharmaraj and Steven told me that Sugumaran has no authority to speak on behalf of the committee or the residents,” he said.
Steven, meanwhile, said he was puzzled as to why Sugumaran had acted on his own without informing any of the committee members.
Meanwhile, the Penang Government has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the 50% discount given to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang by the previous state government in the lease of the Kampung Buah Pala land.
The report lodged by Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy at about 3.20pm yesterday is the state’s first ever report to the graft investigation body.
He later handed over the report to the commission’s state chief assistant director Mohd Noor Abd Rahman on behalf of the state’s five-man exco committee that had been set up to investigate the Kampung Buah Pala land issue.
Mohd Noor said the state commission had finished investigations into prior allegations of corruption in the Kampung Buah Pala issue but would “reopen the case” based on new information.
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