Thursday, November 24, 2011

290 face bankruptcy over abandoned housing projects


KUALA LUMPUR: About 290 house buyers are in the process of being declared bankrupt by banks after failing to pay their loans on houses in projects that have been abandoned.
Malaysia Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) adviser Tunku Azwil Tunku Abdul Razak said 19 house buyers had already been declared bankrupt.
“These are the buyers who had forwarded their complaints to us, but we believe many more are victims.
“The association will take action, including using legal means and referring the matter to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency, to assist them in getting justice.
“We found that some of the cases involved elements of cheating,” he said.
Ahmad Zaki, 43, a victim of an abandoned housing project in Klang, said the project was developed in 1999 but had stalled since 2001.
“I have to repay the RM93,000 bank loan taken although only pillars of the promised house have gone up. The status of the project near Pulau Indah is not in the records of the Klang Municipal Council,” he said.
A victim of a car loan cheating case, who has been blacklisted by a bank, has also sought the help of PPIM.
Zilah Mahmood, 34, said the bank sent a statement as proof that he had taken a car loan purportedly with his “wife” as the guarantor when he was unmarried at that time and did not even know the “guarantor”.
“I was shocked to receive the bank loan statement as my monthly income had not even reached RM1,000, so how could I afford a car?” he said.
Zameri Zakeria, 47, is facing a similar situation as his name was blacklisted in 1997 after he was claimed to have owed RM29,136 in 48 monthly instalments for a Proton Saga car which he has never owned.
“My name appears in the bank statement issued but the signature is not mine. I have gone to the Forensics Department which has also confirmed that the signature is not mine,” he said. — Bernama

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