First Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim tried threatening a lawsuit to make the RM1 billion scandal go away, now he threatens to unleash accountants.
Khalid announced that accounting firms would be invited to check through the Selangor government’s handling of the bailout of Talam Corporation, which MCA has alleged was a misuse of public funds.
The Menteri Besar told the state legislative assembly that five “international” accounting firms would be chosen, and their findings would be then presented before the assembly.
He claimed that the firms would be checked by former accountant-general Mohd Salleh Mahmud to ensure their independence.
“We will invite five select international… firms to do a review of all the business matters, to determine what are the decisions made in making sure that Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) can collect the RM392 million,” Khalid said.
But he made no mention of the two land deals where the Selangor state government has been accused of paying Talam much more than the prevailing market price.
MCA’s Chua Tee Yong alleged last week that the PKR-led government had paid RM181 million in 2010 for a piece of land worth only RM139 million, thereby paying Talam RM42 million more than the market price.
And on Wednesday Chua alleged that Khalid’s administration had overpaid Talam for a second piece of land in Danau Putra, this time by RM28 million.
These infamous land deals are in addition to the “questionable” bailout in 2009 in which the PKR-led state government had purchased RM676 million worth of Talam assets and supplied additional funds worth RM392 million. This totalled RM1 billion of public funds splashed on a debt-ridden company.
It is clear from Khalid’s announcement that he will ask the accounting firms to only check the initial bailout of Talam in 2009, not the additional allegations that have been made by Chua over land deals.
This is a convenient way of clearing the Pakatan administration of any wrongdoing: keeping the terms of reference so narrow that the audit avoids uncovering the real mess.
Khalid can then claim there was somehow no corruption at all.
The Menteri Besar needs to do more than a whitewash. Firstly, he needs to allow the accounting firms to have as wide-ranging an inquiry as necessary, to cover all the questionable deals uncovered by Chua.
Secondly, this probe should be given a clear timeframe of three months, so it is completed before the next election. The voters need to know whether their PKR-led state government is corrupt or not, so they can vote accordingly.
Obviously Khalid would prefer giving the accountants an open-ended timeframe to ensure that their findings don’t come out before GE 13 to hurt Pakatan’s chances, but he should not be allowed to succeed in his plan.
Ever since this scandal emerged last week, Khalid has tried to hide behind technicalities and lawsuits. His accountants gambit is no different. The public should be watchful, and put pressure on the Selangor state government for a clean and quick probe into the entire sordid affair.
Anything less will short-change the long-suffering people of Selangor.