Two DAP grassroots leaders have revealed documents related to their allegation that former housing, local government and urban-wellbeing minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan abused his power in a high-profile housing case.

Satees Muniandy and David Marshall also told a press conference in Penang this morning that officers from the Bukit Aman commercial crimes department had quizzed them over the matter on Monday.

“Since the officers kept harping on whether we have proof, we will provide the documents,” said Satees, who is the Batu Kawan DAP division secretary.

The pair revealed several documents from the Companies Securities Commission of Malaysia to back their claims.

The documents included a letter dated Oct 20, 2014, from developer BHL Construction Sdn Bhd to the Licensing Unit at the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry, to request for extension of time (EOT) for its Palace Court project in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

The duo provided to the media, a letter dated Oct 24, 2014, signed by Mohamad Yusoff Ghazali from the Housing Control section of the ministry, rejecting BHL’s request for EOT.

They also shared a letter dated Oct 28, 2014, from Faridah Begum KA Abdul Kader to Rahman, who was then the housing minister, requesting for the said EOT.

According to the letter, Faridah had claimed to be a director of BHL.

However, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang had earlier pointed out in a statement on his blog that Faridah, the wife of attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, was allegedly not the director of the company.

Minister's decision affected 104 buyers

According to a letter dated July 2, 2015, Faridah had written to one Jessylina Mat Lazim asking about the decision on the letter she sent to the ministry on Oct 28, 2014, where she allegedly requested for the EOT.

Based on a letter dated Nov 17, 2015, one Jayaselan K Navarathnam from the Housing Control section wrote a letter to BHL, informing the company of the approval of the 12 months' EOT requested on Oct 28, 2015.

The issue came to light when the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the then housing minister’s decision was ultra vires the Housing Development Act.

The extension of time affected 104 house buyers, and the decision was also criticised by the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association.

Malaysiakini has tried contacting Faridah and the AG on this matter but failed to get a response.

Meanwhile, David said Rahman would be given a week to respond to this matter.

“We will give him one week to do so, since he may be busy in Parliament, but if he refuses to do that, we will take over the job,” said the Batu Kawan DAP organising secretary.

Minister denies abuse of power

On March 6, the duo had lodged a MACC report on the issue with the commission’s branch in Perai.

Rahman had denied the abuse of power allegation, saying he had the power as a minister to approve such requests for EOT.

The decision, he added, was not influenced by the alleged support letter written by Faridah.

Satees said if Rahman is innocent, and not aware of the alleged false claim, he should lodge a police report against the company to clear his name.

“We do not want the government to be cheated, so we will help the minister do his work by reporting the matter to the police if he cannot do it,” he added.