KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 21): Perak MCA has demanded that Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham come clean on the latter's directorship in a privately-held company allegedly involved in a Kelantan land deal.

Ngeh and his cousin, Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming, were yesterday accused of receiving a large plot of land in Kelantan in exchange for appointing a PAS assemblyman as Perak menteri besar after the last general election.

In a statement, Perak MCA secretary Datuk Tan Chin Meng called on Ngeh to state whether he and his cousin Nga are indeed directors of Upaya Padu Plantations Sdn Bhd, the company which transacted the 4,259-ha land in Gua Musang, Kelantan.

"DAP exhorts accountability and transparency. Why is Ngeh not living up to the ideals which they extol to voters but [remain] so secretive on this issue?" Tan said.

Tan added that Ngeh, a practising lawyer, could perhaps be aware of a potential conflict of interest for his legal firm to prepare legal documents for Upaya Padu.

Controversy over the land sparked a war of words at the Perak state assembly sitting yesterday after a pro-Barisan Nasional blog revealed details of the land deal.

Ngeh, a former Perak state executive council member, told reporters yesterday that the allegations were slanderous but he did not deny that the transaction took place.

According to Ngeh, the land transaction between Yayasan Islam Kelantan and Upaya Padu was a private sector investment in Kelantan that took place in 2006, before Pakatan Rakyat took power in Perak.

"As a lawyer maintaining my profession ethics, I can only reveal that the group of investors, who are also my clients, only purchased the company this year.

"It is only a personal transaction and a private sector investment into the state," Ngeh was quoted by a newspaper as saying.