DON'T DO THIS TO US: Orphans and former inmates from Asrama Kasih in a protest against Khalid in Shah Alam this morning — Pic: Samsul Said

SHAH ALAM: Five hours before the Selangor government takes over land given to Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan (YBK) for failure to settle its debts, the foundation head lodged a police report this morning against the Menteri Besar's office for allegedly spreading defamatory statements on the body and its trustees.

YBK chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Sakom made the report against Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and his officers at the district police headquarters about 10am.

The foundation was to pay RM5.6 million in quit rent arrears to the State government by 3pm today or lose 448 acres of land alienated to it.

"As of now (10am), it looks like the State government will reclaim the land as the deadline is today at 3pm. We are hoping for someone to come up with the money to pay the arrears, otherwise, the State government will reclaim the land."

At Press time, the foundation has not had any "takers" to stave off the State government take-over.

The land is part of a 1,642-acre bank in Serendah that was given to YBK by the previous Barisan Nasional government in 1995.

The foundation initially planned to build a Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) campus there but the plans failed to take off due to lack of funds.

Zainal Abidin said the trustees decided to lodge a police report against Khalid and his officers for making unfounded allegations against them and the foundation.

"These allegations were meant to say that we trustees are not trustworthy and had failed to act in a transparent fashion when dealing with funds meant for charity.

"They claimed we do not have annual financial reports and other things meant to give an impression we (the trustees) were making a profit by running the foundation," he told reporters while flanked by orphans and former inmates from Asrama Kasih, an orphanage run by YBK.

Other donor recipients were also present to show their support.

Zainal Abidin said the foundation had always been transparent, and their annual accounts were published and available for viewing on its website.

Asked if they will sue the MB and his officers for defamation, Zainal said he hoped the police will investigate his report and Khalid will be dealt with accordingly.

"We will monitor the progress of the investigations from time to time."

He said the land belonged to the orphans and the poor, and those who profit from their sufferings will not go unpunished.

On Tuesday, The Malay Mail reported that the Selangor government was gathering information for a white paper detailing how State funds went to YBK since its inception 10 years ago.

The Malay Mail, earlier this month, reported that the foundation and its subsidiary, Permodalan YBK Sdn Bhd, could not proceed with plans to build the UiTM campus.

It was reported that the State government used YBK's inability to settle quit rent arrears running into millions of ringgit for portions of its 1,642-acre land bank, as "bargaining chips" to get the MB and exco member Rodziah Ismail, among others, appointed to the foundation's board of trustees.

Khalid had said that the State government's involvement in YBK would ensure transparency and accountability in handling its funds.