Raggie Jessy
Lim Guan Eng grossly erred in his decision earlier today to criticise the MACC for recording P. Ramasmy’s statement. According to the Penang Chief Minister, there was no reason for the anti-graft agency to call on his deputy as the latter’s portfolio in the state government was unrelated to the Penang Undersea Tunnel project.
However, what the Chief Minister failed to mention was his deputy’s membership with the Penang Transport Council (PTP). The membership, which took effect on the 14th of June 2016, is set to expire on the 18th of May 2018 (SEE FULL LIST HERE). Under the circumstances, Ramasamy is as yet a member of a council tasked with advising the state government and relevant authorities on all issues of transportation in the state.
By virtue of this reasoning, we can conclude with a reasonable degree of certainty that the Deputy Chief Minister is indeed responsible for the tunnel project no matter how remote or substantial that responsibility may be.
By skating over this and the fact that the PTC was responsible for mooting the Penang Transportation Masterplan (TMP) under which the tunnel project is parked, Guan Eng misled Malaysians into thinking that the MACC was harassing the state government by declaring that the anti-graft agency was “conducting a politically motivated investigation” (SEE NEWS ITEM BELOW).
These seditious remarks were uttered wth wilful intent to cast both the anti-graft agency and the ruling Barisan Nasional in bad light. The Chief Minister has, in the past, accused the ruling coalition of “sabotaging the (tunnel) project” in the same breath he suggested that the MACC was on a political witch hunt to harass the state government. There has been more than one occasion in which he connoted the anti-graft agency itself with acts of injustice.
There is no way Guan Eng would not have been aware of Ramasamy’s appointment to the PTC as all appointments to the council require his prior consent. For the record, the council is co-chaired by Yang Berhormat (YB) Lim Hock Seng who happens also to be the State Executive Councillor in charge of Public Works, Public Utilities and Transportation.
In light of all the above, I hereby demand that Guan Eng retracts his accusations against the MACC and offers both the anti-graft agency and the ruling Barisan Nasional an apology for suggesting that a political conspiracy by the aforementioned parties to damage the Penang state government exists.
Regards,
Raggie Jessy
(edited at 5.06 pm, 14/2/18)
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GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state exco objects Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy being called in by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to probe the undersea tunnel and three paired roads project.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said Ramasamy’s portfolio is unrelated to the infrastructure project, so there was no reason for MACC to call him in as a witness.
“His portfolio is in education and library, what has it got to do with the undersea tunnel project?
“They called our executive state councillor Lim Hock Seng in yesterday, we understand, because it is his portfolio,” he said in a press conference at his office today.
Ramasamy went to the MACC headquarters here at about 8.50am today to have his statement recorded.
Yesterday, Hock Seng, who holds the public works and utilities portfolio, spent more than 12 hours in the MACC office to have his statement recorded.
Guan Eng expressed his surprise that Ramasamy was also called in especially when the latter was not involved in the project at all.
“I believe all state excos will also be investigated because even those not involved in it has been called in,” he said.
He said MACC is yet to call him in but he is ready to be investigated.
He accused the anti-graft agency of harassing the state government and using this to affect the image of the state.
“They are conducting a politically motivated investigation and we will not keep quiet about this,” he said.
MACC started a probe into the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project back in 2016 and continued the probe last month.
The agency had detained four senior executives for questioning in its investigations into the case and conducted raids at various offices including state government agencies last month.
Source: The Malay Mail Online
