ALOR STAR: Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has categorically denied the claim by a property agent that a 404ha of logging site in Gunung Inas, Baling being advertised for sale, belongs to him.
The Kedah Menteri Besar described the advertisement that was uploaded onto social media platform Facebook recently as a scam.
"This is a scam. First of all, it has nothing to do with any quota held by the Menteri Besar.
"Even if there's a logging quota, it is approved for the Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI), not the Menteri Besar. There is a clear difference between a Menteri Besar and the MBI," he told the New Straits Times when contacted.
Commenting further, Sanusi said checks also revealed that there is no more forest earmarked as logging site in Compartment 21 of Gunung Inas, as claimed by the agent.
"Of course there is annual quota for state GLC. However for that particular area there's no more quota left.
"Even if there is quota, without obtaining areas earmarked as logging sites, there's no point.
"In fact, most of the quotas held by the state GLCs have been utilised," he said.
Sanusi also advised the public to seek clarification directly from the state Forestry Department on any offers involving forest reserves.
"There is no need to go through brokers or middlemen, just deal directly with the department.
"However, I wish to remind interested parties that there is no more new logging sites approved in Kedah forest reserve in recent years," he said.
It was reported recently that a property agent claimed that her advertisement for the sale of 404ha logging site in Gunung Inas, Baling, for RM15 million is legitimate.
She claimed that the valuation in the advertisement she uploaded onto Facebook was based on a 2022 quota allocated to the Menteri Besar via the MBI.
In response, Kedah Forestry Department director Muhamad Abdullah advised the public not to be hoodwinked by social media posts offering logging sites or timber for sale, believing that such posts were scams.
Villagers in Kupang alleged that extensive logging and the Musang King farm in Gunung Inas are behind the massive mudslide that gutted dozens of villages in the district on July 4, 2022.
The worst disaster in Baling's living memory killed three members of family in Kampung Iboi, destroyed 17 homes and damaged another 1,000.
The villagers have demanded that the state government shut down the durian farm.
However, Sanusi had said investigations by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry concluded that the massive mudslide was caused by geological factors.
