IPOH, March 28 — Former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir said today he should not be blamed for the Movie Animation Park Studio’s (MAPS) cost overruns because he was not chairman of PCB Development Berhad (PCBD) and Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd (ATP).

Zambry explained that he was only the chairman of the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) and that he could not make any decision for PCBD because the latter is a public listed company.

“It is weird I have been targeted and accused to be responsible for the financial management of the project.

“PCBD is administered in accordance with the rules of Bursa Saham, so they can’t arbitrarily take action without following any process or perform unauthorised transaction. PCBD also has its own Board of Directors,” he said in a statement.

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Perak Corporation Berhad (PCB), which is a PKNP subsidiary, owns PCBD, which holds a 51 per cent share in ATP. The balance 49 per cent share belongs to RSG MAPS Sdn Bhd (RSGM).

Yesterday, PCB audit committee chairman Chong Zhemin challenged Zambry to explain the RM217 million increase for the construction and development of MAPS following a special internal audit report.  

Chong previously said that Zambry should be fully responsible for the increase in the cost of constructing and developing MAPS, which went from RM390 million to RM607 million as he had direct control of PCB.

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Chong also claimed that Zambry had allowed an advance payment of RM250 million by PCBD to the main contractor of the project, despite knowing that the contractor had financial problems.

He accused Zambry of allowing PCB to become the only company funding the project despite owning only 51 per cent of shares in ATP.

Zambry said that Chong was not being fair in this matter as the official audit firm PwC has yet to complete the audit report.

Zambry also accused Chong of subjecting him to a ‘trial by media’ following his decision to issue a press statement every day until the start of the state assembly on April 16.

“Will this auditing process be made professionally or it’s just an audit through the media since Chong has something to say daily?” he added.

“It’s clear that DAP wants to take political revenge on me and previous Barisan Nasional administration. They want to twist this issue for political gain and not for public interest,” he said.

Zambry also said the reason for Chong’s baseless allegations on him is to divert the public from the state government’s so-called failure to fulfill their promises and manifesto.