KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — DAP’s Tony Pua should demonstrate his commitment to checking corruption by urging DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to take leave pending his court trial, said an MIC leader today.
Responding to Pua’s remarks to a federal minister that he was elected to check graft rather than drains and potholes, Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari reminded the Petaling Jaya Utara MP of his statement that leaders must relinquish their posts once they are charged with corruption.
“Since Tony likes to talk about corruption, why not he talk about the corruption scandal that is now erupting in Penang,” he said in a statement.
He pointed out that Lim, who is also Penang Chief Minister, was charged with using his position to obtain gratification for himself and his wife by purchasing his house from a businesswoman at RM2.8 million, which was below the property’s market value of RM4.27 million on July 28, 2015.
Vell Paari also appended a video clip that showed Pua saying that a person must take leave of absence once the investigation results in formal charges.
“Why is Tony Pua keeping an elegant silence on this?” the MIC strategy director asked.
He then repeated allegations made previously by others against Lim’s administration, including that Penang was possibly overpaying for proposed infrastructure projects by billions.
Vell Paari also noted that DAP was now cosy with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whom the party once derided as the “Father of all Corruption”.
“By working with Dr Mahathir, is Tony Pua now saying that all their propaganda that Dr Mahathir was corrupted all this years was just a lie to the public?”
Pua issued his statement yesterday to rebut Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for asking the Opposition to prioritise local issues in their constituencies.
