PENANG Public Works executive councillor Lim Hock Seng is being questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) over the state undersea tunnel project, reports The Star.

Citing sources, the paper was said officers from Putrajaya werequestioning Hock Seng at the graft-busting agency’s state headquarters.

Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P Ramasamy is believed to be questioned tomorrow over the same matter at the MACC office in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, George Town, at 9am.

Ramasamy said officers were at his office yesterday morning, and had confiscated his schedule from 2012 to 2014, but no files were taken.

As of 1.56pm today, Hock Seng is still being questioned.

The Chief Minister’s Office told The Malaysian Insight that the graft-busters had not contacted the state government about questioning Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Azam Baki confirmed to The Malaysian Insight that Hock Seng and Ramasamy had been summoned.

Asked who else the anti-graft body would call for questioning, he said it would depend on what they found in the course of investigations.

The proposed tunnel from Bagan Ajam in Butterworth to Persiaran Gurney in George Town is part of a larger RM6.3 billion project.

It comprises three highways to reduce traffic congestion on Penang island.

The project was awarded to the Malaysian-Chinese Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd in 2013 and Chinese firm, China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), had signed on as the engineering, procurement, construction and design consultant for the project.

However, BUCG left the consortium in September 2016 after a crane at its construction site in Kuala Lumpur collapsed and killed a motorist.

Zenith Construction then took over BUCG’s 95% stake in the consortium.

The consortium is now known as Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd.

In a blog entry on Friday, Prime Minister Najib Razak had said Penang does not need the tunnel as there are already two bridges connecting the island to the mainland.

Guan Eng then questioned why Najib “suddenly” described the project as a waste of funds since he was present at the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2011 between the state government and BUCG to take on the project. – February 13, 2018.