Declare war on HOUSING scams

THE revelation on Tuesday that civil servants have been cheated of at least RM50 million in 20 different housing projects over the past 10 years alone is indeed startling.

If past figures of fraud in Malaysia's housing industry prior to this are taken into account, one can't imagine how much such "criminals" have got away with virtually scot-free, leaving in their wake thousands of house buyers suffering in silence.

Is not a war on rampant housing scams long, long overdue? What are the powers that be waiting for? I urge the Housing Ministry and other relevant authorities, to please wake up.

Cuepacs (Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services) wants the government to introduce tighter regulations to prevent fraud which has cost its members dearly.

Its president Datuk Azih Muda said he had conducted site visits to several abandoned housing projects and many of those affected are members of the armed forces.

He said similar reports of unfinished projects elsewhere in the country were also received and avenues for redress by buyers are lacking, while errant housing developers who rake in huge profits only escape with fines that are a pittance at the most.

Actually, what Azih has highlighted is just the tip of the iceberg about the most critical problem plaguing the housing industry – abandoned housing projects.

Just between 2008 and 2014, official figures show that there were 215 abandoned private housing projects involving 60,000 houses and 40,000 buyers.

The law on criminalising abandonment of housing projects and other tightened up provisions are already in place via amendments to the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act but the enforcement is far too lax and pathetic, according to National House Buyers Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong.

There's plenty of feet-dragging even in enforcing it because although the royal assent to the amended law was granted in January 2012 and gazetted soon after, it was finally implemented by the housing minister and came into operation in June this year after a a three-year delay, Chang told me.

We all know that the civil service is a behemoth where bureaucratic red tape is the order of the day, but one can hardly find excuses for the long delay in enforcing a law which at the end of the day, could be used to protect the civil servants themselves from being swindled by housing developers.

"The effectiveness of the revamped Act remains to be seen. It would only reflect its effectiveness after a period of time. However, it must be reiterated that much would depend on the degree of enforcement to be carried out," he said.

It is now a crime with jail sentences for housing developers to abandon their projects provided that they are first charged for the offence and brought to court.

But Chang laments that the amended new law does not have retrospective effect and only applies to new housing projects.

Had the amendments been retrospective, the number of developers who would be caught and face criminal prosecution would expectedly be high, given such huge numbers of abandoned projects all over the country, especially in Selangor.

In Chang's view, while it applies to future housing projects, enforcement against developers of abandoned projects prior to the new legislation could still be done and must be done and publicised.

These efforts would complement the new amended law in that they would send a strong message that the government is serious and pro-active in addressing the scourge of housing fraud.

In other words, while the new law seeks to deter what Chang calls "new criminals", it ought not to be seen that the "old criminals" could get away with impunity.

He justifiably argued that if the housing minister cannot use the legislation for a successful conviction, he can still consider lodging police reports to charge errant developers for cheating and fraudulent dealings under the Penal Code.

As things stand, the housing minister and the ministry have wide-ranging powers to intervene and salvage a "sick project" and provide the cure but looking at the sheer numbers, questions can be asked whether the law has ever been invoked, let alone whether anyone has gone to jail for it.

In comparison, enforcement for petty crime in the country is far more efficient. Recently, a man was sentenced to jail just a few days after stealing 12 packets of chocolate from a supermarket.

In another case, a boy who stole just RM4.70 from a phone booth was jailed for six months. Compare this with errant developers, who made millions, going unpunished after causing financial losses and emotional pain to a large number of house buyers.

Chang advised the Cuepacs president to identify how many civil servants are victims because of the incompetency of their fellow civil servants in the Housing Ministry whose duty is to "cast the safety net" to avoid problematic and unfinished projects.

"Surely their fellow civil servants would understand their suffering and plight with no house, having to pay rent and enduring the nightmare," he said.

These victims of housing fraud and the future ones are now waiting for a war to be declared on housing scams. - Sundaily