Selangor’s Talam White Paper a ‘grey paper’
MCA’s Chua Tee Yong claims that the White Paper tabled by the Selangor state government on Talam Corporation’s debt restructuring exercise left many questions unanswered.
G Vinod, FMT
The White Paper tabled by the Selangor state government on Talam Corporation’s debt restructuring exercise is a “grey paper” as it left out many pertinent issues.
Speaking at a press conference here, MCA’s Young Professional Bureau chief Chua Tee Yong said among others, the state government did not explain why it engaged a private valuer to assess Talam’s assets instead of the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH).
“The state government also did not give details on how much was paid to the private valuer for its work. Surely they did not do it for free,” added the deputy minister.
Last week, the Selangor state government tabled the White Paper on how state authorities went about restructuring Talam’s multi-million ringgit debt.
Among the issues mentioned was on the state’s decision to go ahead with valuation made by Suleiman & Co of RM375 million for land belonging to Talam instead of JPPH’s valuation of RM113 million.
The reason given was Suleiman & Co’s valuation was more comprehensive as it took into consideration of the land’s pending conversion into a mixed development status while JPPH valued them on its status as agriculture land.
Chua said that the state government went against its own regulation by referring the matter to a private valuer instead of JPPH.
“If the land was supposed to be valued as a mixed development property, why didn’t the state government advise JPPH to value it as such? All these are not explained,” he added.
Chua also pointed out that another valuer engaged by the state government gave two differing numbers, in the span of one year, but the authorities went ahead with the valuation.
