MCA -Talam - the missing link...

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli today threatened to "throw files" at MCA deputy minister Chua Tee Yong on the BN party's links to Talam Corporation if he continued attacking the Selangor government.

"Talam is linked to MCA. We have files of transactions involving Talam and MCA leaders" 

"If he continues to prolong this, next week I'll call another press conference to show who exactly benefited from Talam," Rafizi said.

He said that it was beneath the Selangor MB to be doing such "digging" but he would gladly "dig up every single file of each joint-venture and show every single MCA leader who benefited" from Talam.

He said that in trying to paint dirt on Selangor with figures that did not add up, Chua had forgotten that it was during BN's rule that Talam had made hundreds of millions of ringgit at the state's expense.

He added that while Chua has chosen to ignore this, MCA leaders were on the Selangor executive council (exco) when 4259 acres were given to Talam for nothing.

Rafizi, who resigned as CEO of the Selangor economic advisor's office last month, added that not only did Talam get land for free, it also neglected to pay the land premiums.

He said when Pakatan Rakyat took over, close to RM12 million of assessment fees were owing for two parcels of Bukit Beruntung land.

"And that only for two parcels of land," he said.
  

He said Talam also entered into a joint venture with the state for many projects which later ended up being abandoned, resulting in the corporation owing RM392 million to state subsidiaries.

The corporation  had also charged the state lands to the bank, with the amount owing reaching RM292 million by the time settlement was reached.

"We inherited this mess when we came into power...We were in a conundrum.

"We had every right to confiscate the land but Chua's friends in MCA had allowed it to be charged to the bank...and we can't just tell the bank, sorry, good luck, we want to take the land," he said.

He said the debt settlement exercise had seen the state obtain RM684 worth of land from Talam, out of which RM292 was used to pay off  Talam's bankers.

"This is the big picture. I don't want to answer on the nitty gritty because he picks one small thing and ignores the root cause of the problem.

"I will stick to this maths until the end of the world. I will not change (my numbers) like Chua," he said.

Chua had said that the Selangor government and Talam are involved in a questionable RM1 billion deal.

He also claimed that Selangor had "overpaid" for some of the land disposed off by Talam in the debt offset deal.

Selangor said it will sue MCA over the matter while Talam shot back that Chua had ignored its disclosures to Bursa Malaysia, proving he is completely off the mark.- malaysiakini

Pua challenges Tee Yong to Talam debate...

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.  

“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.

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.- malaysiakini

Rafizi ancam dedah kaitan Talam-MCA

Pengarah strategi PKR Rafizi Ramli hari ini mengancam untuk mendedahkan kaitan parti BN dengan syarikat Talam Corporation sekiranya timbalan menteri daripada parti itu, Chua Tee Yong terus menyerang Pakatan Rakyat Selangor.

Bercakap dalam satu sidang media hari ini, Rafizi mendakwa mempunyai fail transaksi melibatkan Talam dan pemimpin MCA.

"Sekiranya dia teruskan, minggu depat saya akan panggil satu lagi sidang media untuk tunjukkan siapa sebenarnya yang mendapat untung daripada Talam," katanya.

Katanya, beliau sanggup menggali setiap fail mengenai semua usaha sama demi menujukkan setiap pemimpin MCA yang mendapat keuntungan daripada Talam.

Beliau sanggup berbuat demikian kerana tugas itu tidak sepatutnya dibuat oleh menteri besar Selangor, kata Rafizi.

Katanya lagi, Chua terlupa bahawa Talam menghasilkan berjuta ringgit semasa pentadbiran BN.- malaysiakini

Hubungan sulit Talam-MCA-UMNO...

Saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Kerajaan Negeri Selangor di bawah YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim yang menghuraikan secara konsep usaha-usaha pentadbiran beliau mengutip hutang dari Talam Corporation kepada Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor yang bersidang minggu ini.

KEADILAN menghormati pemisahan di antara pentadbiran Kerajaan Negeri dan pendirian parti. Oleh sebab itu, tidak ada pimpinan parti yang mendahului kenyataan YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim supaya segala proses mengikut prosedur dan undang-undang boleh dilaksanakan oleh Kerajaan Negeri sebelum jawapan politik dilontarkan kepada MCA/Barisan Nasional.

Biro Politik KEADILAN yang bermesyuarat pada hari Rabu, 11 Julai telah memutuskan supaya pimpinan parti boleh mula mematahkan fitnah MCA di medan politik, setelah berpuas hati bahawa semua tindakan pentadbiran di peringkat Kerajaan Negeri telah pun dilaksanakan dengan baiknya.

Oleh itu, saya haruslah bermula dengan mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan Datuk Chua Tee Yong yang cuba memutar belitkan fakta untuk memfitnah Kerajaan Selangor tetapi tidak sedikit pun memohon maaf kepada rakyat Selangor bagi pihak MCA atas penyelewengan dan rasuah yang dilakukan bersama dengan Umno sehinggakan ribuan ekar tanah dan ratusan juta wang rakyat hangus begitu sahaja.

Talam Corporation adalah anak emas Umno/MCA di bawah pentadbiran mereka dahulu. Selain diberikan tanah, Talam Corporation juga mendapat pelbagai projek besar yang dikendalikan oleh Kerajaan Selangor pada ketika itu.

Maka tidak hairanlah, sekurang-kurangnya 4,259 ekar tanah telah dipindahmilik kepada Talam Corporation di bawah pentadbiran Umno/MCA di Selangor. Lebih memualkan, pentadbiran Umno/MCA juga menutup mata kepada kegagalan Talam Corporation membayar cukai tanah dan premium kepada Kerajaan Negeri, termasuk bagi tanah-tanah seperti berikut:

1.      RM11.26 juta tunggakan cukai tanah bagi tanah seluas 1,276 ekar di Bukit Beruntung

2.      RM526,421 tunggakan cukai tanah bagi tanah seluas 25.94 ekar di Bukit Beruntung

Tidak cukup dengan kealpaan kerajaan Umno/MCA mengutip cukai tanah dari kroni mereka, rakan-rakan karib Datuk Chua Tee Yong di dalam MCA juga tidak segan silu membenarkan tanah-tanah ini dicagarkan pula oleh Talam Corporation kepada bank, sedangkan mengikut undang-undang selagi cukai tanah belum dibayar hakmilik tidak boleh dipindahkan.

Oleh sebab kealpaan dan penyelewengan MCA jugalah, sebahagian besar tanah seluas lebih 4,000 ekar ini digadaikan oleh Talam Corporation kepada bank.

Hutang bank tertunggak Talam Corporation kepada bank, ketika Kerajaan Selangor di bawah Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim mengambil keputusan nekad merampas tanah-tanah ini, sudah pun mencecah RM286 juta.
 
Pada masa yang sama, Talam Corporation juga berhutang dengan anak-anak syarikat Kerajaan Selangor apabila pelbagai projek usahasama dan tender yang dimenanginya gagal disiapkan.

Sekali lagi, rakan-rakan karib Datuk Chua Tee Yong langsung tidak menghiraukan rekod buruk Talam Corporation apabila tender-tender dan perjanjian usahasama ini dianugerahkan kepada Talam Corporation.

Akibat dari pelbagai projek usahasama dan tender yang gagal, Talam Corporation berhutang sejumlah RM392 juta kepada anak-anak syarikat Kerajaan Selangor.

Penyelewengan yang ditinggalkan oleh kerajaan Umno/MCA ini akhirnya terpaksa diselesaikan oleh pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat.

Ini bermula dengan merampas kembali tanah-tanah dan harta yang masih dimiliki Talam Corporation, termasuklah tanah-tanah yang telah digadaikan kepada bank-bank. Jumlah tanah-tanah dan harta yang dirampas dari Talam Corporation oleh pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat mencecah RM684 juta.

Pun begitu, tanggungjawab kepada pemiutang lain dan bank juga perlu diselesaikan supaya tanah-tanah ini bebas dari gadaian dan boleh dibangunkan oleh anak-anak syarikat Kerajaan Selangor di masa hadapan.

Dari jumlah RM684 juta harta yang dirampas tadi, sejumlah RM292 juta digunakan untuk melangsaikan hutang-hutang bank dan pemiutang lain untuk membebaskan tanah-tanah tersebut dari gadaian.

Hasil bersih inilah; yang berjumlah RM392 juta adalah bersamaan dengan hutang-hutang Talam Corporation, yang akhirnya berjaya dikutip oleh pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat.

Kiraan ini adalah cukup mudah, tetapi dirumitkan oleh Datuk Chua Tee Yong untuk mengaburi mata rakyat.

Saya memberi amaran supaya beliau cepat-cepat menghentikan fitnah ini sebelum lebih banyak fail-fail penglibatan pimpinan MCA dalam kesemua usahasama dan projek yang gagal ini didedahkan kepada rakyat.-Mohd Rafizi Ramli, harakahdaily

cheers.