Phee on medical leave after remand

> He will explain the illegal factory issue when he’s back: CM

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Environment, Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh is on medical leave after his release from remand on Monday.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said doctors treating him have given him medical leave until Aug 21 and the leave was for him to recover from his remand by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“He (Phee) will return to work after his leave and will explain the issue of the illegal factory in Sungai Lembu, which was said to have been allowed to operate for more than 10 years.

“The factory is one kilometre away from residential areas, which is more than the 500m buffer zone for heavy industries,” he told a press conference yesterday.

The MACC and other federal enforcement agencies raided the illegal carbon filter factory on Aug 10 following complaints from residents.

Phee, and factory director Edmund Gan Eu Leong, 37, and his 70-year-old father, Gan Buck Hee, who is the factory manager, were subsequently detained the day after the raid.

Last Saturday, the MACC obtained a five-day remand order against the trio but the Penang High Court set aside the order after their lawyers filed for their release.

On another matter, Lim said his government has not applied for a loan from the China Export and Import Bank (Exim) as the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) has not been approved yet by the federal government.

He said his administration will only enter into the process for building the PTMP financial architecture after the RM27 billion project was approved.

“We have not made the application for the loan as we have not obtained approval for the PTMP,” he said.

He was responding to Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani for reportedly saying the federal government did not receive the application from the Penang administration to obtain a loan from the bank.

Meanwhile, in PERMATANG PAUH, the fire at the 31 pits used to burn sawdust at the filter factory is still burning.

A Penang Department of Environment (DOE) officer, who declined to be named, said the pits could only be sealed when the fires were extinguished.

“We cannot seal them, the fires are still burning.

“What the DOE can do now is to conduct daily inspections until the fires are fully out,” he told reporters at the site.

The pits are used to burn sawdust and the subsequent product will be used to make carbon filters.

A DOE officer inspecting the site where the illegal carbon filter factory is located in Sungai Lembu.

... Some branches of a tree fell onto a bus after they were knocked down by the roof of a container lorry in Jalan Macalister, Penang, yesterday. Traffic was held up for some time as workers cleared the debris.