Poor response to Perak Camry auction - Star

May 5, 2009

IPOH: Public response to the auction of 16 Toyota Camry 2.4-litre cars used by the previous Pakatan Rakyat state government has been poor.

When the period for receiving offers ended at noon yesterday, only seven tender forms, including one from former exco member A. Sivanesan, had been submitted to the State Secretariat.

Closer inspection: Potential buyers taking a close look at the Toyota Camry cars being auctioned by the Perak Government at the Perak State Secretariat building in Ipoh before the closing date for bidding yesterday. — SAIFUL BAHRI / The Star

Principal assistant to the state secretary (management services division) Shamshuzaman Sulaiman attri­buted the lack of response to newspaper reports, which had misreported the dates of the auction period.

“The auction period was from April 28 to May 4 and not as reported in the newspapers,” he said, adding that 41 forms, priced at RM20 each, had been sold throughout the period.

“We will process the existing bids and decide later whether to hold ano­ther auction,” he added.

The cars, with registration numbers AGS 10, AFD 11, AFD 22, AFD 33, AFD 55, AFD 66, AFD 77, AFD 88, AFD 99, AFD 333, AFD 999, AFF 33, AFF 88, AFF 99, AGS 828 and AEU 606, were registered on various days in January and being offered at a reserve price of RM148,000.

All the cars, except for two, were displayed at the State Secretariat building car park. Former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin has yet to return AGS 10 while the AFD 999 is still being used by State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar,

“The results of the auction will probably be known on Wednesday after Deputy State Secretary Mohd Jamal Mohd Hussin returns from Langkawi,” said Shamshuzaman.

According to him, the forms would be handed to a committee to be processed after they were removed from the sealed box.

“The committee will then analyse the bidding prices on each form and submit a report to the decision-ma­­king committee headed by the deputy state secretary,” he added.

Noting that the cars were being auctioned off cheaply, Shamshu­za­man said they had been worth RM167,000 at market value during the time of purchase while the window tinting had cost RM2,000.

“The registration numbers also cost a lot,” he said, adding that UMW Toyota Motor had been willing to buy back the cars at RM135,000 but the state deemed it too low.