DAP’s Tony Pua has challenged MCA leader Chua Tee Yong to a debate on the Talam Corp deal to “end his misery” over the latter’s “increasingly ludicrous” allegations.

“Chua has become an embarrassment for the MCA as he stumbles from one mega-blunder to another.  

tony pua pc on talam 2 “I call upon Chua to end his misery once and for all, with a public and open debate in any language, at a time and place of his choosing, even if it is held at Wisma MCA over the ‘Talam Debt Recovery: A Billion Ringgit Bailout or a Billion Ringgit Mega-Blunder’,” said Pua (left) .

“If there’s something to take home positively from the series of ‘exposés’ from Chua Tee Yong and his band of Selangor MCA cheerleaders, it is that he will doggedly persist with making increasingly ludicrous allegations against the Pakatan Rakyat state government, even if it is at the expense of exposing himself as a half-baked accountant.

“To date, he has not even responded to the billion ringgit mega-blunder he has made, or other alleged scandals over the land asset recovery by the Selangor state which were exposed as unscandalous,” the DAP national publicity secretary said in a statement today.

Despite Pua’s earlier explanations for the various alleged irregularities over aspects of the complex debt recovery exercise with Talam Corp for money owing to the state accruing from the previous BN government, Chua, who is also Labis MP, has not relented.

'Chua expose senseless'

The DAP PJ Utara MP called Chua’s latest ‘expose’ on Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd’s (PNSB) alleged bank loan “senseless”.

“Firstly, it does not at all make any sense for PNSB to take a RM230 million loan just to recover outstanding debts of RM22 million from Talam. 

“Secondly, Datuk Chua himself admitted that he was not able to ascertain PNSB had taken the hefty loan to purchase the plots of land in the Hulu Selangor constituency, since the state firm’s 2011 audited accounts are not yet available. 

“Hence he’s really just shooting in the dark!” Pua hit back in the statement.

Even assuming the loan was indeed taken by PNSB to acquire landed assets, said Pua, what was important was that the liabilities taken on by the company should be sufficiently backed by its assets.

NONE As the RM450 million of assets acquired by PNSB far exceed the RM230 million loan, he added, there was therefore no “scandal” to speak of.

“What’s more, as a trained accountant, Datuk Chua should know that getting into debt is not in itself an adverse event for the company. 

“Otherwise, Malaysia’s largest property developers, such as SP Setia Bhd, Sunway Bhd or IOI Corporation Bhd, must be among the worst-run companies because they carry debts of RM2.44 billion, RM2.42 billion and RM5.46 billion respectively in their books,” Pua added.

He further  pointed out that as a property development company, it would be normal for PNSB to acquire land for future potential development, a concept he described as “land-banking”.

“Where exactly is the ‘scandal’ in the above transaction?” he asked.

2011 audited accounts not out yet

Chua yesterday claimed that PNSB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state, is now saddled with a RM230 million debt with a RM86 million interest due because of the acquisition.

However, he was not able to ascertain that PNSB had taken the hefty loan to purchase the plots of land in the Hulu Selangor constituency as the state firm’s 2011 audited accounts are not yet available.

Selangor has acquired RM676 million in assets from Talam Corporation in a restructuring exercise meant to recover Talam’s RM392 million debt to three state agencies.

Chua had earlier claimed the state government had bailed out Talam with RM266 million in public funds, and alleged that the Selangor administration had overpaid RM42 million to Talam for land as part of the deal.

The claims were debunked by Pua, who charged that the total valuation for all 13 properties should be considered, pointing out that the Selangor government had actually obtained the 13 parcels of land at a discount of RM9.1 million.

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