NEWS reports that politicians received large kickbacks for the Penang undersea tunnel and three highways project is a “systematic public lynching of the Pakatan Harapan” government, Lim Guan Eng said.

The chief minister said the allegation was “easily disproved and refuted” as not a single sen was paid for the tunnel and all the contractor’s claims were checked by an independent firm.

He said this in response to news headlines yesterday that preliminary findings of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating the project contract indicated that that several politicians had received tens of thousands to a few million ringgit for their “cooperation”. The articles quoted but did not name the sources of the information.

The sources did not reveal the names of the politicians who allegedly received kickbacks.

“The BN (Barisan Nasional) media is conducting a systematic public lynching of the PH state government, with anonymous sources from the MACC leaking false information, alleging that kickbacks were given to key politicians in the Penang undersea tunnel project, who received between tens of thousands and several million ringgit for their cooperation.

“Such malicious innuendos in press reports are dishonest, not only because they are fake and violate the very basis of fairness, but also abuse the power of the press to vilify the opposition, in the run up to the coming general election,” Lim said in a statement today.

The Penang government, led by Lim’s DAP, has in recent weeks come under heavy fire from BN and is under MACC scrutiny over the tunnel project.

It was reported that MACC raided 43 locations including state government departments, project consultants and project contractor in Penang and the Klang Valley, and spoke to numerous witnesses.

In yesterday’s reports, sources said MACC was tracing how the “wrongdoings were committed and the payments were made”. They said it might be linked to the land swap of two plots of land as payment for studies done.

Lim said the BN media reports were “clearly a lie” when not a single sen had been paid for the tunnel.

He said the state government had hired independent engineering consultant HSS Integrated (HSSI) Sdn Bhd to verify and certify the claims and designs of the project contractor to protect the state government against any accusations of malpractice and misfeasance.

“It would be impossible for any payment whether by cash or land swap the state government to the contractor, unless the ICE (independent checking engineer) verifies and supports such claims.”

Penang has so far paid RM208 million via a 1.50ha land swap deal to  Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd for completion of the necessary studies and designs for the project’s three highways, which have received EIA (environmental impact assessment) approval from the federal Department of Environment.

For checking the claims submitted by Consortium Zenith for the highways, the state government paid HSSI RM11.2 million in cash.

Lim has repeated many times over the past few weeks that no payment had been made for the tunnel, which was still in the feasibility study stage.

Today, he reiterated that the RM6.3 billion tunnel and highways project was awarded to Consortium Zenith via an open tender in 2013 handled by the state tender committee chaired by the state secretary. The committee comprised only government officials, not including the chief minister or state executive councillors.

“The simple question is, where is the corruption when the entire project is conducted by open competitive tender granted by the Penang Tender Board?”

Even HSSI, which checked the contractor’s work was appointed by the state tender board, Lim said.

“The state government only makes payment to such claims upon the recommendation of the ICE, that is, HSSI. For any kickbacks to occur, HSSI must be part of this corruption game. 

“There were no reports in BN media that HSSI was also involved. How then can the kickbacks happen without HSSI’s approval or sanction?”

Lim insisted that the internal control mechanism of appointing external independent professionals to recommend cash or land swap payment made it “impossible for politicians or even government servants to solely decide on the quantum of payment and whether to pay or not to pay”.

“How then can politicians be able to receive kickbacks when they have no power to make decisions, including whether to make payments (for the project) or not?

“While the state government can easily disprove and refute these wild BN media reports as lies, what is disturbing is the MACC passively allowing such leaks of false information to occur without any punitive action. 

“False information is not supposed to be disclosed and published in the press so as to not jeopardise investigations,” he said.

Lim said MACC was practising double-standards as it had acted quickly against “information leaks” on social media alleging the Johor menteri besar was involved in a housing scandal.

“Such passivity and inaction will further erode and undermine the dwindling credibility and integrity of MACC. 

“The continued failure of MACC to act against false BN media reports will only give rise to an unfortunate impression that investigations are politically motivated, especially in the background of the looming general election,” he said.

Lim, whose relationship with BN-linked media in Penang has worsened in recent weeks, also challenged the newspapers to publish the names of the politicians who allegedly received kickbacks for the project.

Penang as a state government could not sue them for defamation, but the politicians could, he said.

“Would the BN newspapers such as New Straits Times, The Star, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia dare to print the names of the so-called key politicians so that the Penang government can take legal action to protect its reputation? 

“Failure to do so would explain why fewer and fewer people are reading their newspapers nowadays,” he said. – January 21, 2018.