Kasitah Gaddam

Tan Sri Kasitah bin Gaddam (Jawi: كاسيته بن ڬددم) is the former Minister of Land and Cooperative Development of Malaysia. He was born in Sabah, Malaysia. Kasitah became minister during the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Corruption allegations

Kasitah became the Chairman of the Sabah State Land Development Authority (LKTNS). He was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Feb 12, 2004 on two charges of corruption. Kasitah was accused of using his position as chairman of the LKTNS Board for personal interest by participating in the decision to approve the proposed sale of 16.8 million Sapi Plantations shares held by the board to Briskmark Enterprise Sdn Bhd. Kasitah, also accused of deceiving LKTNS by hiding the offer of PPB Oil Palm Sdn Bhd to allocate five shares of the company for each Sapi Plantations shares in the proposed public listing.

Brismark Enterprise Sdn Bhd director Datuk Wasli Mohamad Said was present at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court on 12 February 2004 to face five counts of corruption involving RM1 million and the granting of 3.36 million shares of LKTNS shares. Wasli as the chief witness of the prosecution revealed in court that Sabah's former Party President (SAPP) Datuk Yong Teck Lee and former Sabah Chief Minister had instructed him to make a payment of more than RM5 million as a result of the sale of the shares owned by the Sabah state government to his choice agent in 1996. The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) / The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigates the involvement of Yong Teck Lee. [1] BPR Director-General Datuk Seri Said Hamdan denied Datuk Yong Teck Lee's allegations that the BPR's actions opened its investigative papers as a threat. As a law enforcement body, RBs conduct investigations without fear or favor. [2]

Kasitah was accused of hiding information from members of the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) that the board on October 22, 1996 approved the sale of Sapi Plantations to Briskmark Enterprise Sdn Bhd, at a much lower price. As a result, the Board lost over RM137.5 million[3] in 1996. He himself chaired the board meeting at Hotel Fairlane in Kuala Lumpur where it was the first board meeting outside Kota Kinabalu.

Prior to the sale of the shares to Briskmark, Kasitah initially obtained the approval of Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the minister responsible for SLDB, where he had proposed two Bumiputera companies to buy the shares.

Kasitah was desperate to pay off his bank loan amounting to RM10.9 million from DCB Bank (now RHB Bank) .Tahir was unchanged from the Yayasan Sabah and Kasitah worked with Wasli, the new SLDB general manager, to sell the shares to Briskmark and then to repay the loan with the bank . [4]

Free of corruption charges

On Aug 12, 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed and acquitted Kasitah from corruption and fraudulent involving shares belonging to the Sabah Land Development Authority (LKTNS) in 1996. Judge Suraya Othman said the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case. Some individuals are still free despite having several police reports on their corrupt practices. [[5]

31 witnesses were called to testify since 2007. Among the witnesses were former Minister of Resources and Enterprise Development Tan Sri Joseph Kurup and former Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Munir Majid.

Kasitah's lawyer is Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (later, Tan Sri).

Honour

Honour of Malaysia

References

  1. ↑ Kasitah charged with corruption, cheating
  2. ↑ Important to rectify past mistakes, SAPP tells PH leaders
  3. ↑ Kasitah's act resulted in loss of RM137mil to SLDB
  4. ↑ Kasitah's act resulted in loss of RM137mil to SLDB
  5. ↑ Kasitah Gaddam
  6. ↑ "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.