THE Penang government today urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to take action against information “leaks” on its ongoing investigation into the undersea tunnel and three highways projects.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said Barisan Nasional-linked media had been quoting sources on the MACC’s investigation and publishing articles with “false allegations”.

He said for MACC to preserve the integrity and credibility of its investigation, it must act against the false reports and investigation details in the BN media.

This, the DAP leader said, was also to avoid any “unfortunate and unwanted perception that this is purely a political witch-hunt to tarnish the image of Penang state government leaders”.

“Despite the repeated failures of the BN media such as The Star, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, to show proof of their false allegations, they have continued to print reports of MACC investigations, quoting MACC sources.

“To avoid any perceptions of double standards, can the MACC take action against these ‘sources’ leaking confidential information of its investigations to the BN (linked) media?” he said in a statement today.

Lim said in the past, MACC had acted promptly against those who leak information on social media or to the press, but the commission’s attitude now was “surprisingly different”.

“I am surprised that MACC appears comfortable with extensive reports in the BN mass media of the investigation, which is supposed to be confidential and given statutory protection to prevent investigations from being prejudiced.

“Those who leak information of investigations can be severely punished.

“MACC must be an independent body free from any political interference and directive to be able to carry out its job to rid the nation of the scourge of corruption including 1MDB and Felda scandals,” he said.

Lim was referring to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and the many controversies surrounding Felda, such as a dubious land transfer, overpriced hotel purchases and others.

Earlier this week, MACC raided several offices of Penang government departments, the special vehicle company undertaking the project, and a property developer; and remanded two company directors for investigation.

So far MACC has not made further arrests to assist investigations into the tunnel project.

Its deputy chief commissioner Azam Baki in a statement on Thursday said there was no need for now but there might be more arrests depending on MACC’s further findings from documents and witness statements gathered.

National newswire Bernama reported yesterday that MACC’s investigation has now shifted to the payment of RM305 million to the companies that conducted the feasibility study of the mega project.

According to sources, the MACC investigating team was in the midst of recording statements from witnesses from the appointed companies to identify the payment procedures.

“Looking through the documents seized during the investigation, they are believed to be able to assist in determining whether the payment (RM305 million) is the true value or inflated.

“MACC is also investigating whether the companies involved have the accreditation to carry out the feasibility study of the undersea tunnel,” the Bernama report stated, also quoting sources.

Earlier this week, Lim said Penang had not paid a single sen for the tunnel feasibility study, which was 92% finished.

He said the state had only paid RM208 million to the contractor for work done up to the approved EIA (environmental impact assessments) for the three highways.

He had also denied a report in The Star on Wednesday that the state approved the pre-selling of land rights worth RM3 billion to the contractor of the project. He had since challenged The Star to show proof.

“Even if these disclosures by the BN media are false – such as The Star that falsely reported that MACC is investigating the pre-sale of RM3 billion of land rights by the state government and has failed to show proof to back it up – MACC’s failure to act against such reports would only lend suspicions as to whether this investigation is connected to the coming general election.

“Especially when investigations were first conducted by MACC since 2016, where all documents were taken with full cooperation from the Penang government,” Lim said.

The chief minister said the tunnel and three highways projects was awarded through an open competitive tender by the Penang State Tender Board chaired by the State Secretary in 2013.

“If infrastructure projects awarded by open competitive tender can be investigated by MACC, why is there no similar MACC investigation – with massive publicity and four days of front-page news in The Star – for other projects awarded by the BN federal government conducted without open competitive tenders?” – January 13, 2018.