KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 ― Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng today demanded MCA’s Datuk Wee Ka Siong to specify alleged corrupt practices in the state’s undersea tunnel deal.
He said the onus was on Wee to speak up if the latter’s contention was only that the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) was not a shareholder, but the main contractor in the RM6.3 billion project.
“If Wee’s contention is the lack of clear emphasis that CRCC is the main contractor and not the shareholder, where then is the corruption involving Penang state government leaders?” he said in a statement.
Lim also questioned the purpose of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating the deal when Wee, who is a minister in the prime minister’s department, no longer claimed corruption involving the DAP-led state government.
“There is nothing to hide nor fear when the project is granted through an open competitive tender by the Penang Tender Committee,” he said.
Lim then claimed MACC’s probe was none other than to tarnish his administration in the run-up to the 14th general election.
He explained that the project was a tripartite agreement involving the state government, Zenith consortium as the shareholder and CRCC as the main contractor.
It was reported that CRCC had confirmed that it was not a shareholder or a developer of the special purpose vehicle, but was instead a contractor in the agreement.
“When the agreement was signed, the whole project has the legal backing of companies with a paid-up capital of RM4.5 billion that has committed itself legally to ensure its successful completion,” Lim said.
Wee had also previously claimed that the special purpose vehicle involved in the project had only RM300,000 of paid up capital before the tender was opened.
So far, MACC has detained three suspects in connection with its ongoing investigation in the case.
The project that was scheduled for completion in April 2016 is yet to begin.
Lim, meanwhile, had blamed this on “sabotage” and “interference”, indicating that it was difficult to comply with Putrajaya’s standards to kick off the project.
