Loke confident in Chow's transparency on land deal issue

Following the controversy surrounding the land sale in Batu Kawan, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke is confident that Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow is a transparent leader and is capable of addressing the allegations he faces.

"He is the chief minister of Penang, and he definitely has the capability to respond to all these questions. I believe that the honourable Chow is a very transparent leader.

"He will answer all these questions, not just to the media but also to the Penang state legislative assembly,” he said during a press conference after attending the opening ceremony of the 15th special meeting of Railwaymen's Union of Malaya (RUM) at Premiera Hotel Kuala Lumpur today.

Chow is also the national DAP vice-chairperson and Penang DAP chairperson.

‘PAC can investigate’

Loke is also confident that Chow will provide full cooperation if the Penang Public Accounts Committee (PAC) conducts an investigation.

"The state assembly has its mechanisms, public accounts committee, and others, so the Penang PAC can conduct an investigation.

"I believe Chow will provide full cooperation,” he said.

When asked whether he agreed with Chow's current explanation, Loke stated that his agreement did not matter, but rather the fact that Chow needed to explain the issues to the public.

"As I said, he (needs to) explain it to the public. It's not (about) whether I agree or not."

"We need to impress the public, especially the people of Penang,” he added.

Whether there are political motives behind the controversy, Loke did not provide a direct response.

‘Umech followed procedures’

On Oct 3, Chow defended the direct negotiation deal struck with Umech Construction Sdn Bhd for the sale of state-owned land in Byram, South Seberang Perai.

He was responding to the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which had questioned the tender process and why local companies were purportedly not given the opportunity to participate in the process.

“The selection of Umech was also made following proper procedures and a thorough due diligence process was carried out.

Former Penang chief minister's special investment adviser and Penang Development Corporation director Lee Kah Choon along with former Penang deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy alleged that Chow’s statement on the Nov 28 meeting was misleading, unfair and caused harm to their professional reputations.

Meanwhile, on the award of the Byram Industrial Park project to Umech Construction Sdn Bhd, Chow said PDC conducted due diligence based on decisions made during the meeting held by a special committee on that date

At the same time, Chow also confirmed that Lee resigned as the special investment adviser to the Penang chief minister on Oct 2.

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