PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim defended secretary-general Salahuddin Hashim who had questioned the Selangor government's move to buy over Talam Corporation Bhd's RM391 million debt.

NONE In a statement issued today, the Opposition Leader stressed that the PKR political bureau ‘respected and defended' the right of any party leader to raise and question policy matters of any state government.

And this, he added, includes states that are ruled by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition government in order to maintain the principles of democracy.

"The rigorous exercise of this right affirms fundamental principles of democracy and encourages the practice of good governance," said Anwar.

According to him, the e-mail issued by Salahuddin was meant to be for "internal circulation only" and his personal views were not intended to be made public until clarification was given by Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

"(However), the secretary-general neither alleges fraud nor impropriety on the part of the menteri besar or the state government of Selangor," said Anwar.

The Selangor government recently came under fire from PKR after its secretary-general Salahuddin Hashim sent a strongly-worded e-mail to all PKR elected representatives, describing the move as ‘an old trick used by crooks in the corporate sector'.

Satisfied with MB's explanation

On the same note, however, the Opposition Leader said the party was satisfied with Khalid's initial explanation on the core issues involved in the transaction buy over.

khalid ibrahim 301009 "Consistent with the principles of transparency and accountability, Khalid (right) assured that the transaction would remain open to public scrutiny," said Anwar.

Yesterday, Khalid had defended the move to buy over Talam's debt, saying that it was a " state matter " to begin with.

The state assembly had last Friday approved a supplementary budget awarding a grant of RM391 million to the state investment arm Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) to buy over debts owed by Talam to several state agencies.

Talam, over a decade, has accumulated debts with various state subsidiaries and agencies like Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel), the Darul Ehsan Group (KDEB) and Selangor Education Foundation.

The menteri besar made assurances that MBI would make certain public-listed Talam fulfils its obligations by settling the debts within three months, while the recovered money will be injected into the state government's consolidated funds.