Stop the lies, Penang govt told

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government was yesterday told to stop with the lies over the controversial proposed RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project.

Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications deputy director Datuk Eric See-To said amid allegations of massive kickbacks reported by the media, the state government continued to lie that not a single sen and not a single inch of land was given as payment to the project’s special purpose vehicle.

See-To insisted that two plots of valuable seaside land had already been given to companies involved in the project.

He said announcements by a listed property development company, believed to be linked to the project, to Bursa Malaysia in early 2015 proved that the state government was lying.

The group managing director of the listed company was recently arrested and remanded for 11 days by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission as part of its probe.

“The first announcement on March 31, 2015 clearly stated that the Penang government had ‘alienated’ (given) land to the company responsible for the project and the listed company.

“Not only was the land given on Feb 17, 2015, planning permission was also given by the state government on March 30, 2015. Stop with the lies already, Penang government,” See-To said in his latest Facebook posting.

He said not only was the planning permission given quickly, the listed company had also announced that its building plans for two blocks of 40-storey luxury condominium were approved on April 7, 2015 — just eight days later.

“This is probably a world record in efficiency.”

He said this was just the first of the two plots of state land given as the RM208 million payment by the Penang government to the special purpose vehicle to do reports.

“This plot is valued at RM133 million, and they are already constructing the RM800 million gross development value project on it.

“The state government has boosted the land’s value by approving the building plan and increasing (the number of units allowed to be built) from 30 units to 155 units per 0.4ha.

“A total of 570 condominium will be built, with each unit valued at RM1.5 million and above,” he said.

Last Friday, investigators found that several politicians had received a significant amount of money in the approval process for the project’s studies.

“There are politicians who received between tens of thousands to millions of ringgit for their cooperation,” said sources close to the investigation.

“We are trying to identify how payments were made.

“We believe this might be linked to the two plots of land involved in the land swap deal as payment for the studies.”