Kedah Menteri Besar Syed Razak Syed Zain today denied he was being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Agency over a RM120 million sum allegedly paid by a company for a logging contract in the Ulu Muda forest reserve in the state.

The MB was asked to clarify the matter at the state assembly by Sala representative and PAS information chief Azizan Abdul Razak.

Contacted later, Azizan said he wanted Syed Razak to confirm if the Finance Ministry parliamentary secretary was correct to assert that the matter was currently being investigated by the ACA.

He added that on June 18 during the Dewan Rakyat session, Kemaman MP Abdul Rahmad Yusof requested the Finance Ministry to reply to the allegation that WTK Holdings paid RM120 million to the Kedah government for heli-logging rights.

"He (Syed Razak) said he only received RM5 million from WTK (as a deposit for the logging activities), which will be paid back to the company on request," explained Azizan.

The contract to the Sarawak-based company will cover an area of 72,934 ha, out of 122,798 ha, which is the total forest area set for harvest under the 10-year concession plan scheduled to begin on October 2002.

In reply, Finance Ministery parliamentary secretary Hashim Ismail declined to comment on the matter, claiming that the case is currently being probed by the ACA.

Ready to cooperate

In a Bernama report today, Syed Razak denied he was being investigated by the agency nor that any money had been distributed to state council members.

"I deny being investigated by the ACA. I am ready to cooperate if the ACA wants to carry out investigations," he said.

In May, Primary Industries Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik announced a ban on all types of logging to preserve water quality in the 122,798-hectare Ulu Muda area where timber was to have been harvested. The state will be compensated.

Prior to the ban, the controversial heli-logging proposal had incurred the wrath of environmental groups, who say that Syed Razak's assertion on the environmentally-soundness of the plan, is "totally baseless".

In July last year, opposition parties Keadilan and PAS lodged a report with the ACA report against the state government on a logging joint venture project between Heli Harvesting, Yayasan Islam Negera Kedah and WTK.