BUTTERWORTH: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow was today told to suspend the controversial sale of a Penang Development Corporation (PDC)-owned land in Byram, in the Seberang Prai Selatan district, to UMECH Construction Sdn Bhd (UMECH).
Chow, who is also PDC chairman, was also told to suspend the PDC officials who had advised him on the said land deal.
Former Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy, who quit DAP prior to the recent state elections, said he had nothing against Chow but said he needed to clear his name as it had been mentioned on numerous occasions.
"I am disappointed to be dragged into this controversy without any reason.
"I want to stress that during my time in office, no decision was taken to award the land to UMECH. Also, any meeting held during my time in office was merely a fact finding mission and not a due diligence procedure as mentioned by the chief minister. I was not part of any due diligence. My role in the sub-committee was to discuss the feasibility.
"Many issues have since cropped up over the land sale, namely on the choice of UMECH, the land price and such. Even though PDC negotiated with UMECH Construction, the said land was ultimately sold to UMECH Land.
:Also, a few days before the sales agreement, 70 per cent of UMECH Land shares were acquired by Sunway Bhd. All these were never in the initial discussion and the Penang government and PDC knew nothing about it.
"These are reasons enough for Chow to suspend the land sale and conduct a probe. Chow can not blindly defend the deal. The more defensive he is, the more it becomes indefensible," he told a press conference here today.
The former Prai assemblyman said he was not out to cast any aspersion on Chow but the latter has to act to "right any wrong".
"More so, this is an acquired land paid for by the taxpayers. It is supposed to benefit the people and not sold to 'buddies' to reap handsome profits.
"If Chow does not act quickly , this issue is going to be very very serious. I believe the Penang government has been shortchanged in this deal.
"We expect Chow to be transparent and not be indifferent to the whole thing. The more he is defending, the weaker it becomes.
"I believe he can still rectify this. If there is a mistake, admit it. That is what leadership is all about. I worked with the chief minister for 15 years and I know he can do it," he added.
Ramasamy said Chow should also suspend the 'little napoleons" within PDC, which has been dubbed as a lethargic elephant.
"What information did they give the chief minister? Who is involved in this?
Yesterday, Chow accused of making misleading statements over the land sale.
In a joint statement issued by special investment advisor to the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Lee Kah Choon, who is currently serving a one-month notice prior to his resignation, and Ramasamy, they claimed a statement Chow had made was misleading, unfair and had caused harm to their professional reputation.
Chow, in defending the sale of the land to UMECH last week, said that the selection of UMECH was done according to the due diligence procedure.
He had said that a sub-committee, with the participation from former Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman, Ramasamy, former state Trade, Industry and Entrepreneur Development Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain and Lee was set up to study UMECH's proposal, and that the proposal for the collaboration with UMECH was brought for the approval of the PDC board on Feb 9, this year.
Ramasamy said the sub-committee met on Nov 28 to discuss the possibility of UMECH buying industrial land in the Batu Kawan Industrial Park (BKIP) 2.
"The sub-committee did not recommend that the PDC land be sold to UMECH. It was wrong on the part of the chief minister to say that the decision to sell the land to UMECH was based on the recommendations of the sub-committee.
"While I was privy to the one or two PDC board meetings that discussed the land application UMECH, it was at the preliminary stage," he added.
Chow has come under fire over the sale of the land after the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC) raised questions on the awarding of the project through direct negotiations and why local companies were not given the opportunity in the project.
There were also questions raised that the land could have been transferred to a developer.
Since then, Penang Gerakan and Penang Muda have urged Chow to come clear on the matter.
Ramasamy said the issue has opened the Pandora's box.
The land was sold at RM26.53psf, apparently the price of raw land, land without basic infrastructure and near a massive landfill in Byram.
According to Ramasamy, information from reliable sources indicate that the land value is around RM80psf.
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