SHAH ALAM, Jan 27 — The state government is likely to carry out an internal probe and audit on all its agencies to find out if there were any other departments involved in the illegal transfer of land titles through the new e-Tanah system.
Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Amirudin Shari said this is being done to comprehensively address the issue of illegal land transfer activities in the state.
“We accept the recommendation from the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) and will consider the possibility of conducting an internal audit on all our other agencies and departments to determine whether this issue has also occurred there or not,” he told the press after delivering his New Year 2025 message today.
Amirudin was responding to the remark by Bukit Aman CCID director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf yesterday, who recommended that all government agencies, especially the Klang District and Land Office (PDT) run an internal audit and investigation to ascertain if there were other PDTs involved in illegal land transfer cartel in the state.
He said that if there is evidence or information linking other PDTs to the criminal case, the police are ready to carry out an investigation.
Meanwhile, the Menteri Besar said that the state government will further tighten the standard operating procedures related to the e-Tanah system to detect any misconduct, especially the illegal transfer of land titles.
In this regard, every individual accessing the system will be required to enter a username so that their activities can be recorded.
“From now on, the e-Tanah system users will be required to register their username, and their logins will be recorded so that we can track and identify who accessed the system, when, and so on,” he said.
It was reported that the police had uncovered an illegal land transfer operation involving ‘insiders’ at the Klang PDT, leading to the arrest of 17 civil servants since September last year.
They are suspected of being involved in a cartel that facilitated the illegal transfer of 9.4 hectares of land worth RM7.1 million.
On Tuesday (January 21), Selangor Land and Mines Office (PTGS) director Datuk Yusri Zakariah confirmed that seven staff at the Klang PDT were among the 17 individuals arrested in connection with the illegal land transfer activities in the state.
He said that PTGS’ internal investigation found that the crime was believed to have occurred during the process of transitioning from the old system to the new e-Tanah system, and that the seven Klang PDT staff involved have been transferred to other departments not related to land matters.
— Bernama
