KUALA LUMPUR: MCA Young Professional Bureau chief Datuk Chua Tee Yong on Tuesday challenged the Selangor government to release a white paper on the Talam Corporation Bhd debt recovery, which he claims was part of a RM1 billion scandal.
The Pakatan Rakyat government should make good its promise in 2010 to release a white paper on the debt recovery, he told a press conference at the MCA headquarters here. “Before the deal with the Selangor government, Talam was still under PN17, which meant it wasn’t in good financial shape.
After the deal, it was removed from PN17,” said Yong, who is Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries. He said the state government had obtained a RM392 million allocation through a supplementary budget passed in the state assembly in 2009 to facilitate the debt recovery from Talam (now known as Trinity Corporation Bhd).
| Chua at the press conference |
Of that amount, RM277 million was owed to Universiti Selangor (Unisel) and Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd (PNSB), and RM115 million was owed to SAP Holdings, a subsidiary of Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Bhd (KHSB), he added. “However, based on KHSB’s latest annual report, the debt is still outstanding from the Selangor government,” Chua said.
“Unisel didn’t receive any money either; (otherwise) it wouldn’t have had to sell assets to raise RM30 million.” On June 7, Unisel announced plans to liquidate RM30 million worth of assets to help its students after their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans were frozen.
According to Chua, the Selangor government had purchased a total of RM676 million in assets from Talam in March and April 2010. He said RM392 million of that amount was to offset the debt owned by Talam but that only RM266 million of the remaining RM284 million was included in Talam’s annual report as payment to Talam’s bankers.
“So where did the Selangor government get the RM284 million and what happened to the difference of RM18 million?” Chua asked. “I don’t know myself, so I will not speculate.”
He also drew attention to the Selangor government’s implementation of the “Geran Selangorku” programme in March that involved an allocation of RM300 million. He said none of the purchased assets has been sold to external parties nor have any development projects been carried out on the acquired land.
Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had on Monday denied any knowledge of the alleged scandal and insisted that his administration was “very transparent”.