PUTRAJAYA: A former MIC Sungai Siput division chief today lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over alleged corruption in a land deal involving former party president Tun S Samy Vellu.
M. Lokanathan claimed that the former Works Minister had allegedly bought 40.87 hectares of land in Sungai Siput, Perak from a plantation workers' cooperative in 2005.
The deal was supposedly for the building of houses for plantation workers who were also shareholders of the cooperative there, he claimed.
"Samy had bought the land at only RM11,000 per-hectare when the market price at that time for the purchase of the land was RM68,000 per hectare.
"The land was bought for far below the market price.
"It had also come to our attention that he bought this land under the name of a Perak-based businessman from China," he told reporters at the MACC headquarters here today.
Lokanathan claimed the land is an oil palm estate and that members of the cooperative and the plantation workers did not benefit from the deal in the least.
"The plantation workers didn't benefit in the form of houses, nor from the revenue derived from the oil palm which they harvested," he added.
He also alleged that a multipurpose building and carpark facility, which were built for the plantation workers when Samy Vellu was Works Minister and MIC president, were also transferred to the Chinese businessman.
Lokanathan also said he had lodged two separate reports with the MACC; on Sept 10, 2016 and Feb 28, this year – but that no action was taken.
"This is my third report and I really hope the commission will take action this time for the sake of the plantation workers," he added.