Penang Hill report earns Utusan legal action

The state government is taking legal action against Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia for allegedly lying that it swindled RM50 million from an "illegal" car park building at the foot of Penang Hill.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the daily had maliciously reported that the sum of RM50 million twice in its Sept 6 report when the actual cost of the project was merely RM5 million.

The same report titled "SPRM diminta siasat Guan Eng" (MACC asked to probe Guan Eng) was featured in the newspaper online version on Sept 5.

Lim (right) also took offence at being accused of swindling the funds when the project was initiated and approved in 2007 by the state government under BN and the Tourism Ministry.

He denied being involved in the 'poorly designed' project, saying he was not accusing the previous state government of approving it either, but was merely "stating the facts".

When the project was approved in 2007, Lim said, he was not the chief minister, and neither was he an MP nor state assemblyperson.

"The Utusan article is clearly a false report. We are forced to sue to defend the integrity of the state government and to defend myself from these malicious elements (anasir jahat)," he said.

Misuse of powers, charge

"They do not report about those who are corrupt but instead report on those who are not. To them, black is white and vice-versa, we are not willing to be blackened, slandered and persecuted anymore," he added.

In the Utusan article on page 24, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng is reported to have lodged a complaint against Lim with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Tan is quoted as saying he was suspicious that the state government under Lim, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) may have "misused their powers and mischannelled" funds amounting to RM50 million allocated to the project.

Lim has denied the charges, saying he was never asked to approve the project, nor was he even told of the project's progress since taking office in 2008.

PDC general manager Rosli Jaafar had clarified that the new Pakatan Rakyat government and Lim were not told of the progress of the project as the Tourism Ministry was the "client".

On why he was not suing Tan, who is state Kita (Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air) chief, who first lodged the report at the MACC, Lim said the former was always complaining that Utusan had "misreported" his statement.

He added that anyone was welcome to lodge a report against the state government and it was open to investigation as it had nothing to hide.

"We do not want to give the impression that just because someone lodges a report against us, we sue. No, we do not want that, we want the truth to be known" said the DAP secretary-general.

"So let's go for Utusan first and see what its defence is. If its allegations are wrong, one day it has to face action... so we start with the paper whose culture is to lie," he added.

Round and round, passes buck

Meanwhile, former Penang state executive member for Tourism, Teng Chang Yeow (left, wearing glasses), said he was "shocked" that Rosli had learned fast from the current administration in passing the buck on the car park project.

Teng said the PDC must be held responsible for the "fiasco" as its subsidiary, PDC Consultancy Sdn Bhd, was assigned to take up the project in 2007.

He said he had checked with his former staff from Penang Tourism Action Council (now dissolved) about the project as they were tasked by the Ministry of Tourism to monitor its progress,but not the technicalities.

They confirmed that the project was delayed by land and electrical substation issues which surfaced in the middle of 2008, he added.

Teng said the whole building plans were approved by the MPPP in May 2009 and the council had the technical expertise to advise Pakatan councillors before car park's building plans were approved.

"If there were technical flaws in the building plans, why then did the Pakatan councillors approve it?

"Who then monitored the construction of the building after the plans were approved?" he asked.

"It cannot be the previous administration! In short, the previous administration cannot be held responsible for the technical flaws of the approved building plans," Teng added.