Press Conference Statement By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Komtar, George Town On 12.2.2018
No Point In Rebutting Fake News Or New False Allegations By BN Leaders, Like Wee Ka Siong On The 3 Highways And Tunnel Project, When Wee Refuses To Fully Account And Come Clean For His Previous 10 Lies Against The Penang State Government, But Is Going All Out To Sabotage This Public-Interest Project To Alleviate Traffic Congestion?
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There is no point in rebutting fake news or new false allegations by BN leaders, like Wee Ka Siong on the 3 highways and tunnel project, when Wee refuses to fully account and come clean for his previous 10 lies against the Penang state government, but is going all out to sabotage this project to alleviate traffic congestion.
Can BN leaders and Wee prove their lies that:-
1. There was corruption and kickbacks involving millions of ringgit to state government leaders;
2. There was no sabotage of this project by BN leaders or Wee as well as no abuse of power by Liow Tiong Lai in “abusing his office for political gain” in getting information from CRCC;
3. I said that CRCC was a shareholder of Zenith Consortium.
4. Ignoring that I said that CRCC is the main contractor and insinuating that a fashion company is involved in building the 3 roads and under sea tunnel project;
5. Alleges state government leaders’ role in awarding the contract to Zenith when the Penang State Secretary heads the Penang Stgate Tender Board comprising senior government officials. Refuse to answer why no investigation by MACC on the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link that was awarded without open tender;
6. Trying to drag in the Penang State Secretary to the political arena by alleging that the paid up capital of Zenith, when they were awarded by open tender, did not fulfil the minimal RM381 million;
7. Agreement was not stamped especially the legal commitments by the main contractor;
8. The additional letter of commitment by the main contractor to ensure the completion of the project was not legally binding because it was only an appendix to the main agreement;
9. Implying that CRCC is the sole consultant; and
10. Claiming that payment was made to the contractor for the under-sea tunnel.
The state government has been very open and transparent in answering the intensive public scrutiny in the BN media on the 3 roads and tunnel project. Unlike the BN government’s silence on the 1MDB scandal or ECRL project. Wee is playing dirty. Wee is misusing BN’s control over the news and TV media, by refusing to come clean on the above ten lies against the state government. I will no longer play Wee’s dirty game of serially hopping to a new lie to cover up the old lie.
I am shocked that Wee is privy to information from the main contractor for this project, China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd (CRCC), that even the state government is not aware of. Wee even claims to have knowledge of how much or how little CRCC was paid by Zenith, raising questions on the source of his information. Again MCA leaders like Liow and Wee are acting as if they are a spokesperson for CRCC and forgetting their role as a Malaysian Minister. This validates two of our contentions.
Firstly where is the corruption involving kickbacks of millions of ringgit to state government politicians leaders, when MCA leaders are now reduced to squabbling over whether CRCC is a contractor or a shareholder of this project, or how much or little CRCC was paid by Zenith. This is best answered by Zenith. Can Wee prove corruption or explain what Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating when this project was awarded by open competitive tender?
Secondly, this substantiates suspicions that Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai is abusing his powers to pressure CRCC to reveal information, even though Liow is not a party to the contract involving the Penang state government, Zenith Consortium and CRCC. Liow has no right to talk to CRCC but it appears that CRCC can establish contact with MCA leaders, but not with the state government.
The situation with CRCC is almost the same with Zenith Consortium key leaders, particularly those detained by MACC. Zenith is not communicating publicly as before. After all it is understandable that those involved in building roads and an undersea tunnel have never expected that doing so, can lead them to being detained in a lock-up. Clearly Zenith have been intimidated with their detention by MACC.
Should CRCC withdraw from the project as the main contractor, then we know who sabotaged it. Again the Penang stage government reserves our legal rights in court to ensure compliance by the contractor with the principal agreement. What has the people of Penang to gain from this sabotage by BN and MCA which will only worsen traffic congestion? BN had failed to provide a solution when they were in power and now they want to destroy a possible solution initiated by the state government.
LIM GUAN ENG