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Controversial Land Given To Contractor
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - Some controversial pieces of land given to a leading contractor continued to be the main point yesterday in the ongoing $11 million corruption case against an exminister and a leading contractor.

The defence has called to view a number of files in the Land Office and the Ministry of Development, which the court heard are being located.

The defence lawyers have been invited following an application to the relevant departments and the ministry to examine the files.

In the dock facing multiple corruption charges are Brunei's former Development Minister Pg Dato Dr Hj Ismail Pg Hj Damit, 58, and Wong Tim Kai, who controlled Ted Sdn Bhd, one of Brunei's most successful contractors.

The court sat briefly yesterday after a postponement of three weeks and it will resume hearing today.

Two relevant charges are focused before Chief Justice Dato Mohd Saied, who is hearing the case.

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They were that the minister influenced civil servants under him to Ted's appeals for temporary occupation licence of land (TOL) at Mulaut Industrial Area in 1991 as well as 1992 and again in 1994.

The court heard that Ted Sdn Bhd made a number of applications for TOL land and had asked for five acres for their business operations on August 1993 and in October 1993.

They had sent reminders to the Land Office about their appeals for five acres as they had been offered 1.3 acres, which was insufficient for their needs. They had been required to relocate from three areas and had asked for five acres to accommodate their business operations.

Ted Sdn Bhd had in April 1994 sent a written application to the minister requesting that they look into their request for TOL, which had been ongoing since 1990. After that, the minister had called for a meeting with the relevant department on June 18, 1994 and directed that five acres of TOL be allocated to Ted Sdn Bhd as per their request, which the minister found was justified.

At the meeting, the minister also called for a review of the policy on allocation of Industrial TOLs, according to the needs of the applicants. The two were first charged in February last year, and the case has been ongoing ever since.

Pg Dr Hj Ismail was the Sultanate's Development Minister and a member of the cabinet. But in May 2001, he was dismissed and some time later he and Wong, who headed Ted Sdn Bhd, a leading civil and building contractors, were also charged, which shocked the country.

The former minister faces 17 charges and Wong 14. They could be jailed 10 years and fined $30,000 if found guilty. Both the minister and Wong are pleading not guilty, and some of Malaysia's star lawyers were engaged as defence counsels.

Prosecuting on behalf of the Attorney General are Andrew Macrae, a senior council from Hong Kong, with assistance from DPP Aldillah Mohd Salleh and Ms Maggie Wong. Defending the ex-minister was Ahmad Basuni Abas, while Wong has Balwant Singh Sidhu and Rudi Lee as legal counsels.

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