Selangor-owned sand-mining company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) has denied a news report which claimed that it is at loggerheads with state-controlled Kumpulan Hartanah Sdn Bhd (KHSB).

In a statement today, KSSB chief executive officer Wan Ab Halim Wan Ismail said there was no dispute with KHSB over the sand-mining operations on a 50-acre site in Dengkil or on other issues.

“KHSB consented for KSSB to mine the sand area before operations started, while the terms of arrangements were being negotiated.

“KSSB has duly paid to KHSB an amount of RM630,968 in February 2011 and KHSB has not raised the matter since,” said Wan Ab Halim.

He was responding to The Star ’s front-page report today titled ‘Sand Wars’, which claimed that KHSB was “forced” to allow KSSB to mine sand on a 20ha site in Dengkil.

KHSB is the property vehicle of Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd, the Selangor government’s investment arm.

The report, citing an anonymous KHSB official, said the company was also being short-changed because it was paid only RM4.50 per tonne of sand, which was in turn sold by KSSB to the construction industry at RM17.50 to RM20 per tonne.

Legal action

The KHSB official also claimed that the company was only paid about RM630,000 instead of RM2.6 million which it should be rightfully entitled to.

The report said that when KHSB had tried to take legal action over its monetary claim against KSSB, Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had intervened.

Responding to this, Wan Ab Halim clarified that the menteri besar had no role in negotiations or financial arrangements between the two companies.

He added that KSSB is currently consulting its lawyers on whether legal action is to be taken against The Star .

The report does not include any indication that attempts were made to obtain Khalid’s or KSSB’s side of the story.

The daily has ran several reports lately claiming that sand theft was rampant in Pakatan Rakyat-administered Selangor.