SIBU: The person-in-charge of a company, which offers an affordable housing scheme, has been called to come forward and provide explanation to house buyers who believed they have been scammed.
Lanang MP Alice Lau, in a press conference, said the scheme had involved some 186 buyers throughout the country.
She said to date, 89 of them, including 85 from Sarawak, had lodged police reports on the matter and some were still unaware of it.
“Most of the victims have paid around 30 to 100 per cent of the construction cost, depending on the packages chosen that ranges between RM115,000 and RM130,000.
“The scheme began in May last year and the company would promise the buyers to build their houses within six months’ time.
“However, until now, there are no houses being fully constructed and almost all of the company’s branch offices are closed thus, causing the victims to panic,” she told the media at her office at Jalan Aman here yesterday (Dec 15).
Therefore, Lau urged the owner to come forward and provide an explanation to the purchasers as all the money they paid are hard earned money and some are sourced even from their pension.
“I urged the person in charge to come out and explain the situation and tell them (the victims) what next.
“If you don’t want to build their house then pay them back. Refund all the money they lose. Stop issuing useless letters which are not legally binding,” she stressed.
Aside from that, Lau will be writing letters regarding the matter to the authorities as well as the Minister of Home Affairs, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
“We cannot postpone (the investigation process) as it involved a lot of people regardless of race and background all over Malaysia.
“The police need to investigate and look into this case seriously and take immediate action,” she said.
Lau also shared that the company regional manager Sia Ai Kiew who is also a victim of the case, was also asked to give an explanation and even threatened by the purchasers.
“As some of the purchasers cannot reach the owner of the company thus, they will look for people in charge which is the staff.
“Yet the staff is also a victim. She was not paid her salary since September, and their (workers) Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) contributions were not paid since May,” she said, hoping that the purchasers would stop harassing Sia.
