Husni drilled over inflated 1MDB land values
Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah has been asked to explain the sudden leap in valuations of the embattled 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) properties in his justification of the investment firm’s assets.
“While there were many other oft-repeated excuses to explain the missing funds and his refusal to entertain questions with regards to the enigmatic Jho Low were widely publicised in news reports, what stunned me was Ahmad Husni’s ( photo ) revised valuation of 1MDB’s real estate properties.
“The question hence is how did the valuations of these pieces of properties leap by 157 percent in just one year?” asked DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua in a statement.
He was commenting on the minister’s RTM1 interview in which Husni commented on the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and 495-acre Bandar Malaysia land that is to be used to service 1MDB’s massive debts.
“These revised valuations are shockers because even the previously revised valuations presented in the March 31, 2014 financial statements are only worth a fraction of the newly disclosed figures.
“The Tun Razak Exchange land belonging to KLIFD Sdn Bhd was already then revalued to RM2.7 billion.
“Similarly, the Sungai Besi military airbase land sold to Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd was then revalued to RM4.29 billion. These numbers add up to barely RM7 billion,” said Pua.
“Worse, these properties were purchased from the Malaysian government at only RM194 million and RM1.69 billion back in 2011 and 2012 respectively,” pointed out the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.
Overbilling the rakyat?
He asked on what basis did Husni arrive at the figures, and if it was deliberately inflated.
“We want to know if the second minister of finance was spewing gibberish and just plucked these new outlandish valuations out of thin air to present an optimistic picture of 1MDB.
“How were these new valuations arrived at? Or are there more sinister reasons why the values have been massively inflated?” asked Pua.
He said Husni’s claim compounds fears earlier expressed that the takeover of the two properties from 1MDB “at very high prices” would be at the people’s expense.
Initial calculations, said Pua, meant Malaysians will be forking out a total of RM10.2 billion just for these transactions alone.
“However, based on the latest bombshell from the second finance minister, the government would now have to fork out a whopping RM18 billion, or as much as RM21.2 billion if KLIFD and Bandar Malaysia’s associated loans are taken into consideration,” he warned.
Pua said Husni must provide a detailed explanation of the valuation and not evade questions.
“Is this the real, devious and deceptive scheme the Ministry of Finance is planning to cover up the massive multi-billion ringgit losses and missing money in 1MDB while keeping the pretence that everything is above board?
“If so, it is certainly nothing short of daylight robbery of the tax-payers’ monies,” he said.
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