CENSURE: MB faces issues over land deal as DAP calls for action to be taken against his political secretary
SHAH ALAM: TAN SRI Khalid Ibrahim, already battling critics within Pakatan Rakyat, avoided answering questions from the media about Talam Corporation Bhd's debt-restructuring issue yesterday.
Maintaining that he was curious to know how he had lied about the deal, the Selangor menteri besar said: "In fact, the allegations against the state government and myself are currently being studied before legal action is taken against these accusatory parties."
The issue involving Talam Corporation (now Trinity Corporation Berhad) first surfaced on Tuesday, when MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief Datuk Chua Tee Yong accused the Selangor government of misusing public funds to bail out Talam Corporation.
Chua alleged that the state government had done so via a RM392 million supplementary budget passed in the state's legislative assembly in 2009.
He added that the state had bought an additional RM676 million worth of assets from Talam Corporation.
It was revealed that the company owed state subsidiaries -- Universiti Selangor (RM255 million), Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Berhad (KHSB) (RM115 million) and Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd (RM22 million), totalling RM392 million.
Chua had queried why a piece of land in Bestari Jaya was disposed of at RM181 million, at RM80,000 per acre, when it was valued at RM60,000 per acre in 2010.
In Klang yesterday. grassroots leaders of DAP added its voice to the clamour for the Selangor menteri besar's political secretary to be punished for issuing a support letter for her niece's company
Sri Muda assemblyman Shuhaimi Shafie, the state PKR information chief, had already criticised Khalid for stalling over the issue, drawing a reaction from Faekah Husin, who is Khalid's political secretary.
"What is his agenda and many want to know what he is up to?
"The party is keeping mum on this. He is openly defying party directives.
"Even the MB has to answer to the party but Shuhaimi is immune?" Faekah had told the New Straits Times last week.
The central argument of Pakatan critics of Khalid is this -- swift action was taken previously in cases were family members were involved in state-linked transactions.
Yesterday, Klang DAP Parliamentary Liaison Committee secretary, Teh Teong Guan, said former Klang Municipal Council (MPK) councillor Tee Boon Hock had lost his job two years ago for a similar offence.
Tee had issued a support letter for his son's company to obtain a contract from MPK.
"The menteri besar had on Sept, 8, 2010 told reporters that he (Tee Boon Hock) had been sacked for breaching the ethical code despite not sitting in the MPK's tender board, when the support letter was issued," Teh said at a restaurant in Bukit Tinggi, here, yesterday.
Teh, along with 18 DAP party members who had gathered at the restaurant, said they had sent a letter to the menteri besar's office on Friday demanding that Khalid provide a detailed explanation on both issues.
In August 2010, Tee was sacked from the council and from DAP after he was found to have issued a support letter for his son's company -- using state executive councillor Ronnie Liu's office letterhead and seal to obtain a contract from the Klang Municipal Council.
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