Gatco estate: Liquidator remanded for five days

PUTRAJAYA: A liquidator has been remanded for five days from today to facilitate investigations into the sale and purchase of land in Kampung Serampang Indah, Jempol, Negri Sembilan, which was formerly known as Gatco Estate.
Magistrate Siti Nabila Abd Rashid issued the remand order upon the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) application.
The 69-year-old man was held after he gave his statement at the MACC headquarters here at 2.45pm yesterday.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad was quoted as saying that the man was an important witness who managed the transfer of land.
The Gatco Estate issue began when settlers were unhappy with the sale of the plantation.

Last month, Dzulkifli was also reported as saying that the MACC would set up a task force to investigate the report concerning the land deal and to study all the documents enclosed in the report lodged by Gatco Settlers Action Committee.
The action committee, among others, claimed that there were elements of misappropriation in the sale of the land to Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2007 since the company only paid RM16 million when the market price was around RM500 million.
The 2,000ha Gatco estate was previously a sugarcane plantation owned by Syarikat Gula Negri Sembilan and following the closure of the company, the land was leased to the Negri Sembilan State Development Corporation (PKNNS) for 99 years.
In 1977, PKNNS leased the land to The Great Allonioners Trading Corporation Bhd (Gatco) for 66 years.
Gatco then turned the area into a land scheme and brought in settlers who were offered a price between RM4,000 and RM7,000 to own their respective house plot and a four-hectare plantation.
Initially, Gatco planned to develop the area into a rubber plantation, but due to financial constraints, the land, which was mortgaged to the bank, was taken over by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd, and at a public auction in 2007, it was bought by Thamarai Holdings. — Bernama