KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — The Finance Ministry did not issue the order to seize RM1 billion in assets from China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Ltd (CPP), Lim Guan Eng said today.
The minister said such an order could only have come from a law enforcement agency.
“I just like to say that the Ministry of Finance and myself, we did not issue any instructions of seizure.
“So if there is any instruction of seizure, you should refer to enforcement agencies. That’s all I want to say,” Lim told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby here today.
On Saturday, The Straits Times reported that Malaysian authorities seized the sum held in a HSBC bank account belonging to CPP and transferred it to the government-owned Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd (SSER).
CPP was the firm behind the RM9.4 billion Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) and Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) projects that the federal government cancelled on suspicion of fraud.
Lim previously revealed that RM8.3 billion of the two projects’ value had been paid out despite no physical work being done.
