PUTRAJAYA: The government is considering setting up a special court to handle corruption-related cases, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

This is to speed up such cases, he said, adding that people are unhappy that some individuals who had indulged in corrupt practices appeared to have escaped punishment.

“The reason (why we want to speed up the cases) is that we find that the trials related to corruption are considered ordinary trials, without any priority accorded to them,” he told reporters after chairing the seventh meeting of the special cabinet committee on anti-corruption.

Also present were Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption director-general Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.

Dr Mahathir said the government understands that normal courts are very busy, so there is a need for a special court to address corruption.

“The people are asking where is the punishment for the crimes committed by certain individuals. We are still trying to finalise and define this proposal. Normally we have three layers of court, so if we introduce the court for [corruption], the appeal will still go to the ordinary court [of appeal].

“That may mean that again, [the case] may not get the attention of the ordinary court. We may want to have a court that will hold the hearings as soon as possible,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also spoke on the controversial land swaps undertaken by the ministry of defence (Mindef) to allegedly prop up voter base in select constituencies.

He said the deals violated financial regulations as stated in the final report on the land swaps by the government’s special investigation committee on procurement, governance and finance.

“The committee identified cases of land swaps which did not follow the government’s procurement procedures, where they were conducted for the purpose of increasing the number of votes in army camps during the election,” said Dr Mahathir.

He said army camps were built on the land acquired, after which soldiers were stationed in the camps so they could vote in the desired constituencies.

Some of the camps have since been left vacant, he said.

“This is an offence ... in this case legal action will be taken against those involved,” he added.

However, Dr Mahathir did not elaborate on the specific regulations that were breached through the land swap manoeuvre.

Mindef, under the current administration, had reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the alleged leakage in government revenue estimated at over RM500 million across 16 land swaps covering 1,286ha of the ministry’s land during the previous administration.

Mohd Nasasie Ismail, special officer to the Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu, told reporters on Feb 21 that two land swaps under investigations were done to add army votes for former defence minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (in Semberong, Johor) and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (in Bagan Datuk, Perak).

In response, Hishammuddin told reporters on March 12 that he welcomed any investigation into the matter.