Opposition party PAS today urged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad ( photo ) to personally direct the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to investigate the controversy over a multi-million ringgit logging concession involving Umno Pahang.

"This should be one of his last important duties before his retirement in October. He must do this to ensure his government is clean and transparent as claimed," said PAS central committee member Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli in a press statement today.

He said the government should not be seen as protecting any high-ranking Umno leaders who could be involved in this scandal.

Since last week, malaysiakini has been publishing a series of reports on the logging concession granted by the Pahang government to the state Umno, which in turn gave the rights to timber company Seruan Gemilang Makmur (SGM) for a paltry RM50,000.

Industry experts contacted by malaysiakini have questioned the extremely low transfer rights and wondered if there was a "hidden agreement" between the two parties.

Legal suit

The 10,000-acre plot of land in Nenasi, about 100km south of Kuantan, was given to Umno Pahang in 1998. The ruling party entered into the deal with SGM two years later.

SGM and Umno Pahang are now embroiled in a legal suit over what the company claims to be Umno's failure in assisting it to obtain a logging licence for the remaining 3,000 acres.

The documents in malaysiakini 's possession relating to the deal between the parties indicates the involvement of many state party leaders in obtaining the concession and the subsequent handover to SGM.

The Pahang Menteri Besar and state Umno leader when the party obtained the plot of land is the present national Umno secretary-general and Information Minister Khalil Yaacob. He was succeeded in the state by Adnan Yaakob in 1999.

A police report was lodged in 2001 by Umno state representative Fauzi Abdul Rahman against Khalil alleging that he had permitted areas larger than what was allowed under the national forestry policy to be logged.

Subsequently, ACA reports were lodged over the matter. However, there has been no new developments from the investigations.

Last Wednesday, Adnan denied that the party was involved in the deal with SGM. However, he said that a few individuals from Umno could have misrepresented the party.

'Illegal logging'

Mohd Hatta, who is the political secretary to opposition leader and PAS acting president Abdul Hadi Awang, also questioned the manner in which the Pahang government had awarded the concession to Umno.

"Why give it to a political party which has no expertise in logging? Investigations must also be done to see who actually is behind SGM," Mohd Hatta said.

He also questioned the motives behind Umno Pahang's refusal to pay the land premium amounting to RM4.8 million for the site, despite being given four rare extensions by the state land office.

"This means Umno Pahang has no right to log in the said concession area and all logging done thus far is illegal," Mohd Hatta said.

The legitimacy of the party in logging the land is also under question as the district land office in Pekan - where the site is located - has confirmed that the land still belongs to the state government.

Mohd Hatta also proposed that both Khalil and Adnan take leave pending the ACA investigations.