The developer of the Forest City project in Johor has reportedly closed all of its sales centres in China amid a crackdown on capital flight.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a spokesperson for Country Garden Holdings said it had shut down all its offices to make way for renovations.

The spokesperson denied it had anything to do with Beijing's tightening of capital outflows.

The SCMP however, said a visit to Country Garden's main showroom in Shanghai - which was also closed, showed no signs of renovation works.

The Chinese government had in January barred its citizens from converting the yuan into other currencies to purchase overseas property.

The Forest City project has become a major point of contention for the opposition.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had been continuously accusing Putrajaya of undermining the country's sovereignty through the Forest City project.

Several government officials and Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who has a stake in the project, have refuted Mahathir's claims.

Relying on a Bloomberg report that 700,000 residential units would be built on the 1,400ha reclaimed land, Mahathir said these homes were mostly targetted at buyers from China and should they reside here, would significantly alter Johor's demographics.

The SCMP in its report, cited former Country Garden Malaysia sales agent Alan Ho as saying about 90 percent of Forest City buyers were from China.

The report also cited Country Garden's finance centre general manager Wu Bijun as saying that its projects in Malaysia had been affected by Beijing's restrictions on capital outflows.