Ex-mayor's wife faces RM6m fine

The Malay Mail 26/10/2005

KUALA LUMPUR: The wife of a former Kuala Lumpur Mayor is facing a RM6 million fine for renovating her house without approval from the local council.

Checks yesterday revealed that renovation work continued despite a report in The Malay Mail that the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) had not approved the renovation works.

MPPJ public relations officer Zainun Zakaria said the owner, Datin Kalsombi Abdul Rahman, the wife of former Datuk Bandar Datuk Mohmad Shaid Mohamed Taufek, can be fined 10 times the estimated value of renovation works (estimated at RM600,000) on her house in Bayu Damansara.

"We will take immediate action against the house owner," Zainun told The Paper That Cares yesterday.

Renovation work on the house, bought for about RM300,000 by Kalsombi, started in June this year.

Zainun said the work carried out by the contractor engaged by Kalsombi was illegal.

"The proper procedure is for the house owner to get an approval from us before engaging a contractor," she said.

Zainun also expressed surprise when told that despite a stop-work order issued on Oct 7 to the contractor, Muhsin Abdul Ghani of Mag Builders Sdn Bhd, renovation work was still being carried out.

"Our record shows that the contractor submitted an application for the renovation work on Oct 20. However, the documentation is incomplete and we have advised him to supply us the necessary details.

"To date, this has yet to be complied with."

Zainun said approval would not be given unless the council receives the necessary documents.

"Usually, it takes between two weeks and a month for approval for a simple renovation. However, this case seems to involve massive renovation work.

The contractor has yet to make a payment required when such applications are made," she said.

However, Muhsin, when met at Kalsombi’s house yesterday, said he had submitted an appeal against the stop-work order.

He said the appeal was for him to continue working on the roofing to protect areas that have already been renovated.

However, he admitted that he did not get official permission for this.

"We were given verbal permission. We also have verbal permission to repair some parts of the neighbour’s house that was damaged due to the renovation work," he said.

Muhsin also claimed that he had wanted to repair the damage to the house of Kalsombi’s neighbour, accounts management executive Azian Ahmad.

Azian had complained of cracks in the living room wall and on the external wall at the back of the house. She also claimed that the porch gutter had collapsed due to the renovation work.

Azian claimed that Muhsin had promised to repair the damage but did not honour his promise.

Our checks yesterday, however, revealed that some workers were carrying out work on a new gutter.

Azian, however, said she was not informed that the workers would undertake the job until The Malay Mail informed her over the phone.

On the application to renovate, Muhsin said it was "normal" for contractors to go ahead with the construction before acquiring the approval as he claimed the procedure took "a long time".

"Some approval takes between six and 12 months. For this project, we submitted our application and were given the assurance that we will get the approval soon," he said.

However, he did not say who had given the assurance.

Muhsin added that the renovation, costing about RM600,000, should be completed by early next year.

He added that his job includes tearing a major part of the house down and "practically rebuilding a new one based on the plans drawn up".

This includes turning the four-room double-storey terrace house into a six-room three-storey abode.