PENANG’S chief minister today asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) why it was pursuing the state’s undersea tunnel project which had an open tender and not federal projects that had been awarded by direct tender.

Lim Guan Eng named the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) which was awarded directly to its Chinese contractor in 2016.

“The ECRL project was awarded directly to its contractor without going through an open tender. Why is that project not being investigated?” he told a press conference today.

Penang’s undersea tunnel and three highways, however, had gone through an open tender and had been transparent, the DAP secretary-general added.

The ERCL, which will link Port Klang in Selangor and Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan, was awarded to China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) in 2016.

Lim was responding to reports yesterday that MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Azam Baki had denied that the commission practised double standards in its ongoing investigation into the tunnel and highways project.

Azam said MACC has always been professional in its job.

He also reportedly said they were looking into alleged “leaked information” reported in mainstream newspapers that several politicians received kickbacks in return for their cooperation in relation to the Penang project.

Lim said Azam had still not addressed the leaked information, which he said was false.

“Clearly there are double-standards. We hope MACC can keep its integrity and not be seen as being involved in power abuse or a witch hunt (against the opposition) in the run-up to the 14th general election,” he said.

Lim also reiterated that no payment had been made for the tunnel project that was still at feasibility study stage.

“Not a single sen or a square inch of land has been paid for the tunnel,” he said.

He had said many times in the past few weeks that the state only paid the contractor Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd RM208 million via a 1.5ha land swap for the three highways, which had received environmental impact assessment approvals.

The payment, he said, was made after going through an independent engineer which verified and certified the project contractor’s claims. – January 23, 2018.