Three state subsidiary companies received only a total of RM20 under the Talam Corporation Bhd debt restructuring exercise carried out by Pakatan Rakyat Selangor government, says MCA's young professionals bureau chief Chua Tee Yong.

The subsidiaries are Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Bhd (KHSB), Universiti Selangor (Unisel) and Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd (PNSB), which entered into joint ventures for property development with Talam when BN was in power.

NONE After Pakatan took over Selangor, it was revealed that Talam owed the three companies debts totalling RM392 million.

However, Chua said that according to the latest quarterly report of KHSB, the state government owed the company RM115 million and no payment had been made.

In the case of PNSB, he said, instead of collecting RM28 million it received only RM10 and was now facing a loan of RM230 million, with an interest cost of RM86 million, according to an assignment of debt agreement dated Nov 3, 2009.

The same was also the fate of Unisel, Chua said, and its financial situation had worsened since it only received RM10 from the debt restructuring exercise, instead of RM248 million.

"The RM36 million discounts also given to Talam did not fulfil the settlement agreement that expired in 2008," Chua, who is deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister, said at a press conference today.

Total cost of debts close to RM800 million

Asked whether the companies had received the money between the end of 2009 and now, Chua said the press should ask the Selangor government this.

"Whether they got (the money) or not, I'm not sure, but the agreement states only RM10," he added.

The total estimated cost of the debts of the three companies is close to RM800 million.

Chua said that with the Talam assets accepted by the state government at an apparent overvaluation of RM676 million, together with the RM86 million interest cost born by PNSB and RM36 million discount given to Talam, the estimated cost of the debt restructuring exercise would be RM798 million.

When it was pointed out that this figure was different from his initial accusation that RM1 billion in public funds was involved in the matter, Chua explained that there were two parts to the cost, the RM676 million and the RM392 million that was approved by the Selangor state assembly in 2009.

He said the RM392 million was supposedly allocated to the three companies, but the documents clearly showed that this was not done.

Asked whether the figures involved should be RM798 million plus RM392 million, Chua replied, "whether it is a ‘plus' or not, I'm still waiting the state government to reply".

He urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to take action over this questionable deal.

On July 3, Chua, who is Labis MP, released documents to show that the Selangor government used more than RM260 million to bail out ailing Talam through a complicated accounting process.

He also claimed that the total amount of money involved in this deal exceeded RM1 billion.

Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim appointed an accounting firm to conduct an audit exercise on the debt restructuring deal and it reported that the state government had made "a sound commercial decision".

However, Chua remains unhappy with the report and called it a public relations exercise that did not address any of his claims.

MB seeks permission for special sitting

In a related development, Khalid said he met with the Sultan of Selangor today to seek his permission for a special sitting of the state assembly to table a White Paper on the Talam Corporation debt restructuring.

NONE "We also sought the sultan's permission to table the audit on the state's voters, called the Selangorku Bersih programme, and the restructuring of Selangor’s water services industry.

However, Khalid said, the sultan has not made a decision on the proposals, which were brought to the state ruler’s attention during an audience this morning.

"The White Paper on Talam will provide intricate details on how the state government plans to collect the RM392 million and the state executive council has approved it," he said after chairing today’s state exco meeting.

The report is to be handed to the office of the State Legislative Assembly on Monday.