Friday, November 20, 2009

PKR unit defends RM391mil debt buyover plan

What say you on the issue below?

PETALING JAYA: PKR’s political bureau has decided not to interfere in the Selangor Government’s decision to buy over debts amounting to RM391mil owed by Talam Cor­poration Bhd to state agencies.

PKR information chief Latheefa Koya said the bureau had also found neither impropriety nor fraud involved in the buyover decision.

“We respect the decision made by the Selangor Government,’’ she said.

It is learnt that there was a heated argument during a bureau meeting on Wednesday night to discuss concerns raised by PKR secretary-general Datuk Salehuddin Hashim over the debt buyover.

Universiti Malaya Faculty of Business and Accountancy dean Assoc Prof Dr M. Fazilah Abdul Samad said the Selangor Govern-ment was merely doing what the Federal Government had done when it bailed out companies during the Asian economic crisis about a decade ago.

“It is all right to resort to debt buyover if we can get back the debts at a discount.

“I believe there is no hanky-panky or mismanagement in this buyover deal,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, in a move to defuse tension within the party, PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim defended the buyover plan, as well as Salehuddin’s action in sending a strongly-worded e-mail to all PKR MPs and assemblymen in the state questioning why Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had kept them in the dark over the acquisition.

“At the outset, the political bureau respects and defends the right of any party leader to raise and question policy matters of any state government, including states that are ruled by a Pakatan Rakyat coalition government,” he said.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Anwar said Salehuddin’s e-mail was his personal view and only meant for internal circulation.

“The secretary-general neither alleges fraud nor impropriety on the part of the Mentri Besar or the Selangor state government,” said Anwar.

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