BN strategic communication deputy director Eric See-To alleged that third parties received RM262.7 million from the Ijok land deal in Selangor, almost as much as the settlers, who were given RM300 million.

“Searches by us in a related lawsuit over this land in Aug 2017 shows that at least RM262.7 million out of this RM1.18 billion had been paid to third parties comprising mostly of consulting companies and an individual.

“This is something that the settlers will find hard to accept as various Pakatan Harapan leaders had told us that the settlers had only received RM300 million out of the RM1.18 billion, while third-party firms received RM262.7 million, almost as much as the settlers received even though it was their land that was sold for the RM1.18 billion,” he said in a statement this afternoon.

See-To questioned whether the settlers were informed about the payments given to the third parties.

He further alleged that the Selangor government was aware and supportive of the payments and relevant agreements.

Malaysiakini has contacted Yin Shao Loong, the strategic communications director with the Selangor Menteri Besar's Office, for comment and is awaiting his response.

Meanwhile, See-To said the Selangor government must come clean and explain the reason for the third parties purportedly receiving the RM262.7 million from the RM1.18 billion deal.

He also urged the state government to declassify the agreements to provide full transparency of who else shared the RM1.18 billion payment.

According to See-To, several questions arose from this matter such as why did the Selangor government not sell the Ijok land via open tender and instead opted for a private deal.

See-To also said it is “strange” for Pakatan Harapan leaders to defend a third-party consulting group involved in the Ijok land deal.

MACC arrested several people recently over their connection to the Ijok land deal, four of whom were from a consulting firm.

In a joint statement yesterday, PKR’s Subang MP R Sivarasa, Amanah's Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and former Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad described the arrests as “unnecessary”.

They had said that the consulting firm had helped resolve the dispute over the land through an amicable solution for everyone.

The land was given to settlers more than two decades ago. In 1998, two companies were roped in to develop the land for the settlers.

The companies, however, could not deliver what was promised and in 2009, former state menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim seized the land from the developers.

This resulted in the companies filing a lawsuit, but two verdicts at the High Court and the Court of Appeal sided with the state government.

An appeal was subsequently filed with the Federal Court.

However, when current Menteri Besar Azmin Ali took over the reins in 2016, he filed a settlement agreement at the apex court and returned the said plot to the developers, which was then sold to a third-party company for RM1.18 billion.

A compensation of RM180,000 and houses worth about RM400,000 each was then given to the 981 settlers.

BN has since taken issue with the transaction, asking why the compensation was just a fraction of the land sale value, and why the matter was settled before undergoing due legal process in the Federal Court.