Teachers always ask what you’d like to be when you grow up.
No one knows what to be, but I have a pretty clear idea of what NOT to be: a politician who ends up getting caught for their corrupt ways and doing shady things behind everyone’s back while acting like these are in the country’s best interests.
Former Finance Minister and Chief Minister
You might be thinking, another one after Najib? What even goes on there?
The man in question is no other than Malaysia’s former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, who was part of the former Mahathir administration until February. He had served as Penang’s chief minister for over ten years until 2018 as well.
Ironically, following Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, he was also one of the main leaders in charge of recovering the billions of lost dollars that were apparently “stolen” from the state fund.
So, what happened?
The Tunnel
Back in 2013, when he was still actively serving as the chief minister, the Penang Undersea Tunnel project was approved. It was no simple project, for it was worth a whopping RM6.3 billion with feasibility studies that came up to RM305 million.
Aimed at being built at least 20m under the seabed, the 7.2km long tunnel would serve to connect Jalan Pangkor in Georgetown with Bagan Ajam in Butterworth, including three roads.
Feasibility studies were to be carried out by Consortium Genith Construction Pte Ltd, but somehow, they took two years longer than expected to push out the report, which was only submitted in April 2019. The project was reported to have been in its final stages during August last year.
At the same time, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was in the midst of monitoring and investigating the project to make sure no shady business was going on, but…
He Was Caught
On 6 August, Lim was officially arrested with charges of corruption regarding the Penang Undersea Tunnel project, the MACC reported.
He is charged today (7 August) at the Special Corruption Court for offences including accepting gratification, with another charge coming his way on 10 August for using his public position or office for gratification.
MACC also said that Lim will also be charged regarding a different case next Tuesday. Ouch, just how many charges does this man have on his head?
Lim was seen entering the MACC building yesterday at around 9:10pm.
His arrest follows claims that despite there being a four-year delay in road construction, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) company in charge of the Penang Tunnel was allowed by the state government to pre-sell RM3 billion (~SGD$980 million) worth of state land rights.
Investigations are also being carried out regarding the uncompleted feasibility and design studies, despite payment of RM220 million being allegedly already paid to the SPV company.
Lim had been called up thrice to provide statements about the allegations before his arrest.
Today, Lim pleads not guilty, and the bail is set at RM1,000,000. His passport has also been surrendered to the court.