Chua Jr invited to visit Selangor BN's cheap lands

DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua has issued an invitation to Agricultural and Agro-based Industry Deputy Minister Chua Tee Yong for joint site visits to the 24 parcels of state land sold to Barisan National at below market price.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the bipartisan visit could clarify whether the 24 pieces of land are serving the community, as alleged by the ruling coalition, or profiting BN parties instead.

Pua, in a statement today, said the MCA young professional bureau chief (above) should agree to the visit because it could prove that BN is not involved in corruption and abuse of power in awarding those lands.

However, should any evidence show that BN profited from the land, Pua urged Chua to declare all the profits “be returned to the Selangor government for the benefit of her citizens.

“If not, then it will be unfortunate that Chua will prove himself as another dye-in-the-wool hypocrite from MCA and BN, who seeks only to protect his own interest and that of his party, at the expense of the ordinary man-on-the-street”.

'Real' land scandals for Chua

Pua, in his statement, noted that despite theindependent audit and the Selangor government's white paper proving that the Pakatan Rakyat state government has collected back the RM392 million outstanding debt from Talam Corporation, incurred during BN's administration, Chua is remarkably persistent in his “jihad” to find the elusive needle in the haystack to prove his RM1 billion non-existent land scandal in Selangor.

“Given his insatiable quest for 'land scandals' in Selangor and the obvious need to lead the ineffective Selangor MCA leadership, I would like to offer the perfect opportunity to Chua to uncover the real land scandals in Selangor,” Pua said.

In the last Selangor assembly, Sekinchan assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim had accused that BN of acquiring 24 state lands at RM1 per square foot (psf), far below market value, from 2000 to 2008.

Ng said that out of 24 lands, UMNO gain the biggest share at 15, while MCA, MIC and Gerakan acquired five, three and one respectively.

Ng (left) had initially estimated the total value of those lands at RM20 million butrevised it to RM300 million after factoring in the appreciation following the developments conducted on them.

However, both Selangor Umno information chief Abdul Shukor Idrusand Selangor MCA secretary Wong Koon Mun had replied that the cheap lands were used solely for the community’s interests such as or the building of community and multi-purpose halls, pre-schools and temples.

Yet, during a site visit yesterday, Pua claimed one of the 24 lands located in Kelana Jaya has been used to develop a 200-unitcondominium and alleged the land, sold at RM1psf, is now valued at around RM200psf after being developed.