Guan Eng should address discrepancies over sale of HK consulate building

Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong (left) and Lim Guan Eng

PETALING JAYA: There are still some discrepancies with the sale of the Malaysian consulate building in Hong Kong, which Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has not addressed, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

The MCA president said Lim must show the latest valuation report, which indicates that the property has a market value of RM1.6bil.

He also said Lim must show the tender that clearly states the property's reserve price of RM1.6bil.

"Show the final sales and purchase agreement of the building, including the detailed terms with deposits paid," said Dr Wee in a Facebook post on Sunday (April 7).

On Saturday (April 6), Lim, in a statement, said Dr Wee should concede defeat and resign, purportedly for losing the public debate over the matter.

"Dr Wee has failed to prove me wrong, that the offer for the consulate was for RM1.6bil, not HK$1.6bil. Dr Wee should admit his mistake and resign. We will see if Dr Wee practices what he preaches," said Lim.

To this, Dr Wee said, "Lim has trouble understanding the conditions that I had set when I brought up the issue of the highest bid via an open tender to sell buildings owned by Malaysia in Hong Kong".

"If he does not understand, he can always review the video of what I specifically said in the Dewan Rakyat," Dr Wee added.

Last Tuesday, the duo engaged in a heated argument in Parliament, after Dr Wee said the valuation of the property had been carried out by industry players in Hong Kong who valued it at HK$1.6bil, and not RM1.6bil, which Lim had earlier claimed.

Following the shouting match, Lim furnished the offer letter of an interested party wanting to buy the property at RM1.6bil.

The offer letter did not impress Dr Wee, as he said that the true value of a property could only be determined by a valuation report by professionals, while slamming the offer letter for being riddled with grammatical errors.

Reiterating his point, Dr Wee urged the media to publish contents of the offer letter, so the public can judge for themselves.

"My condition was not for Lim to show atrociously bad grammar in a non-committal letter of interest from an unnamed broker for an unnamed buyer as 'proof'," he added.

The issue over the sale of the Hong Kong property was first brought up on March 26, when Lim had accused former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak of approving the sale of the property through direct negotiations.