Penang Police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi wants Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to end the blame game over a CCTV recording which showed a lightning arrestor falling from Menara Umno, burying a vehicle under its debris, when a violent storm hit Penang on June 13.

NONEParts of the car, a Honda City, belonging to hawker Lim Chin Aik, 44, believed to be buried under the rod, was found by the search and rescue team, though they failed to uncover his body.

Abdul Rahim (left) said he had contacted Lim yesterday and wants the chief minister to tell state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow to stop dwelling on the issue, or continue to blame the police, for not revealing the CCTV recording even after being made aware of the vehicle being buried by the fallen concrete.

Chow had questioned why the police had failed to detect the incident when the CCTV installed in the MPPP's operations and control room at Komtar's 13th floor was the same system found at the Police Headquarters, adding that Abdul Rahim was probably not briefed about the matter by his officers.

"The incident is over. We'll end this here, let me take you to the CCTV operations room," Abdul Rahim said, when met at the Penang Police HQ on Jalan Penang this morning.

NONEAbdul Rahim then led a team of reporters to the CCTV room, which was situated on the 3rd floor of the building.

There were 36 and 24 TVs screens belonging to the state and federal government respectively installed in the room.

Interestingly, the TVs were identical to the ones found on level 13th Komtar, which reporters were allowed to view yesterday by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP).

However, Abdul Rahim said the police did not have the "expertise" to view the recording without technical help from the MPPP.

"Whenever we need to review (playback) the recording, we would request assistance from the technicians. They handle the system," he said.

"We did not learn how to operate it and we do not want to interfere because the recordings are handled by the MPPP," he added.

In his press briefing yesterday, Chow had also claimed that the police relied on the CCTV recordings to issue about 500 traffic summons on a daily basis.

"This is not true. We do not issue summons just by looking at the TV screens," Abdul Rahim said.

Three issues

When contacted, Lim said Abdul Rahim had indeed spoken to him over three issues yesterday.

He added that Abdul Rahim informed him about the state crime index, the visit of the Agong to Penang to look in on former Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak who is seeking treatment at the General Hospital, and on the CCTV issue.

"I told him I had not been in Penang for a week, I will look into it when I get back, I will listen to his views," said Lim, who is currently attending Parliamentary proceedings as Bagan MP.