Lured by the cheap land offered for sale in Hulu Langat and Gombak, a former Bank Negara employee took out his life savings only to lose all of them when the real estate company selling the land closed shop, reported Bernama.
“I withdrew my savings from the Employees Provident Fund to buy the land because the price was cheap and the company’s employees were very convincing when explaining how the purchase was done,” said 72-year old Othman Sabri.
“After one year of waiting, I contacted the office but my calls went unanswered. I decided to go to the office but found it closed.”
He was one of the 150 people believed to have been victims of fraud committed by the real estate company, with losses incurred totalling around RM9 million.
According to Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) Special Action Unit director Yusuf Azmi, investigations showed that two “Datuk”, one of which was the husband of a local celebrity, operated the real estate company.
Since 2011, the two “businessmen” went around selling someone else’s land at a relatively lower price, said Yusuf.
“They operated another company which closed shop but opened a new company to continue their illegal activities,” he revealed.
“I hope the Federal Territory and Selangor Land and Mines Offices, the Selangor state executive council and the Selangor State Development Corporation can take immediate action to stop this.”
Image sourced from FMT
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