Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has brushed off suggestions to hold a public inquiry into the Talam Corp Bhd’s debt restructuring exercise.

Khalid said a public inquiry was too time consuming and too technical, thereby sticking to his guns that the appointment of five independent audit firms to probe the matter was the best way to get to the bottom of it.

NONE Ultimately, he said, the auditors would make their findings public.

“In this way, we don’t waste much time. Public inquiries are good, but it takes time.

“For example, I no longer discuss about Talam because a lot of time is taken, of which 98 percent is for explaining things all over again.

“Only two percent is spent on things that need answers. Therefore, I shall use that two percent by keeping quiet on this issue,” he told a press conference today.

On July 17, former Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Ramon Navaratnam’s had urged Selangor to establish a public inquiry on the matter.

'Chua Tee Yong does not understand'

At the same press conference, state exco member Teresa Kok said her statements on the Talam issue did not contradict that of DAP colleague Tony Pua, as alleged by MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief Chua Tee Yong.

NONE “Pua and I did not contradict each other. It was Chua ( left ) who failed to understand the whole picture,” Kok said.

Chua had pointed out that while Pua maintained that the previous BN-led state government had done nothing to collect Talam’s RM392 million debt, Kok revealed in a press conference last week that the Talam’s subsidiary Maxisegar Sdn Bhd had signed away five office lots in 2006 to repay its debts to Universiti Selangor (Unisel).

“I must thank Teresa Kok for informing the public about the agreements because what she has disclosed proves that the Pakatan government is misleading and lying to the people,” Chua told a press conference yesterday.

Kok noted she was in fact referring to a “partial settlement” between Unisel and a Talam subsidiary, while Pua was referring to a “global settlement” between Talam and the state government.

NONE In addition, she said, the state government had inssted that the agreement not be declared void when it expired on March 8, 2008, since the company was at risk of bankruptcy.

“Maxisegar was in deep financial crisis at the material time, and Selangor may not be able to collect its debts if Maxisegar cannot get out of the mess it was in,” she said.

She accused Chua of being “totally ignorant” of the agreements and matters related to the allegations he was making.

Since Chua, as MP of Labis in Johor seemed to have interest in Selangor’s affairs, Kok challenged him to contest in Selangor in the next general election.

“He can assess whether the people of Selangor believe in his series of disclosures on Talam’s debts and accusations against the Selangor’s Pakatan Rakyat government,” she said.

Kok added that there would be a public briefing on Selangor’s water issue and the Talam issue at the Shah Alam Convention Centre at 10am on Aug 7 and she invited Chua to attend so that he could learn for himself what the issues were all about.