Sanusi denies any link to the RM40 million Sungai Petani circuit investigation

PADANG TERAP: Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has denied any link to an alleged RM40 million criminal breach of trust involving share and land dealings tied to the Sungai Petani International Racing Circuit project.

The case is a matter between companies and is already in the hands of the authorities, he said.

"Syarikat dengan syarikat, dia punya hal. Mereka selesai di pihak berkuasa, saya pun tak tahu," he told reporters on Thursday after a handover ceremony for land titles and house keys at Desa Sejahtera Kampung Perik in Padang Terap, saying the dispute was between companies, was being settled with the authorities, and that he himself knew nothing of it.

Muhammad Sanusi said he did not know the person who had been detained and had no knowledge of the money said to have been misused.

"I do not even know who was arrested. I do not know whose money went missing. So how do they come to accuse Sanusi," he said.

He told those raising the issue to take it up with the company concerned, and described the accusations against him as slander.

Investigated under the anti-money laundering act

A female company director in her 30s was detained on Oct 5 over the alleged breach of trust and has been remanded until Oct 10.

The investigation is being handled by Bukit Aman's anti-money laundering criminal investigation division under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. The suspect's shares have been frozen.

The arrest followed a police report lodged by a 57-year-old major shareholder of the company over share purchases carried out between April and June 2024.

Reports on the investigation said the complainant paid RM40 million to buy shares and obtain land for the circuit project. Police are examining allegations that the money was used for other purposes, leaving the transfer of land ownership incomplete.

The allegations remain under investigation and have not been established in court. An arrest to assist an investigation does not mean the person has been proven guilty.

Two separate sums of RM40 million

Turning to the state of the project, Muhammad Sanusi said those involved had received a RM30 million allocation from the Youth and Sports Ministry.

They had received RM30 million, spent RM10 million, and with the remaining RM20 million had asked for a further RM40 million, he said.

The additional RM40 million in funding that Muhammad Sanusi referred to is a separate matter from the RM40 million now under police investigation. Nothing has been found to connect the two sums, and there is no confirmation that the money under investigation came from a government allocation.

Cost and scale

Muhammad Sanusi said the original plan carried a cost of about RM73 million, and that planning permission had been submitted on the basis of that plan. The project was announced in 2022 and has been reported as a RM75 million development.

The state government takes the view that the scale of the project needs to be reduced, he said.

There was no need for it to meet Sepang International Circuit standards, he said.

If the cost was beyond the state government's means, he said, the private sector should carry it out. If the scale were reduced to something the state could afford, buying the project could be considered.

Work at the site was still going on, he said, adding that he had flown over it by helicopter and seen work in progress.

Muhammad Sanusi also said the state government had to avoid spending public money on development on land owned by a company without clear arrangements in place.

Raised since May

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said on May 4 that he had been informed a report had been lodged over the project.

He said at the time that he had been told someone had lodged a report and that if there had indeed been irregularities, he would leave the matter to the relevant authority.

Saifuddin declined to comment further, saying remarks at that stage could be read as politically motivated and that the investigation should run its course first.

The eventual status of the circuit project and the question of who owns the land both remain to be clarified.