Who's the scaredy CAT now, asks Umno

Penang Umno has alleged that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is "scared" when he refused BN's invitation to a public dialogue to clear his name of graft allegations so that the people, via the media, can be the judge.

The party's state youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin said Lim wants to avoid public judgment before the general election by saying that he would prove in court whether he is corrupt or not.

"I hope Penangites will punish Lim in the coming general election," Shaik Hussein (right) told Malaysiakini.

Shaik Hussein and state Gerakan Youth deputy chief H'ng Khoon Leng had both received legal notices when they claimed that Lim had received a bribe from the Kuala Lumpur International Development Centre to develop the 1.1 acre piece of land in Taman Manggis.

The KLIDC had won the bid to develop the land but BN leaders say it has been earmarked for a public housing project.

However, Lim said the plot was too small for public housing and has reserved an 11 acre plot in Jalan SP Chelliah for the project.

Subsequently, BN offered to purchase the land for RM22 million, but since they did not meet the Dec 4 deadline for payment, the state government has killed the offer.

Tenancy agreement revealed

Meanwhile, Shaik Hussein said that Lim continues to twist the issue of the land deal by involving other people and other matters unrelated to the ‘Taman Manggis Corruption Scandal'.

The engineer by profession refuses to drop his allegations that Lim is corrupt, despite being served with a legal notice to apologise and retract his statement.

"Lim should know that corruption also involves abuse of power and breach of trust," said Shaik Hussein.

"Lim has yet to answer the allegations surrounding his luxurious bungalow which he rented from a director that has interests in the KLIDC company," he claimed.

Lim had earlier revealed his residential tenancy agreement with his landlady, and has denied that the latter had any interest in the KLIDC project.

But Shaik Husseins said although KLIDC won with the highest bid to acquire the land, the company was allowed to build a 19-storey hotel on top of the medical centre.

This, Shaik Hussein claimed, is a privilege not known to others who had take part in the same bid.

"This is clearly abuse of power and cheating in the tender process. We have raised the issue many times but Lim has yet to respond to it," he said.

‘Guan Eng's rhetoric'

Shaik Hussein also laughed off Lim's commitment to eradicate corruption, describing it as mere political rhetoric for the coming GE13.

He added that Lim's constant boasting of an open tender system is also rhetoric.

"I can prove with facts that almost all open tenders implemented by Lim through CM Incorporated, including those related to Taman Manggis, did not comply with the pre-conditions of the system according to the law."

As for Lim's effort in declaring his assets and that of his state executive councillors, Shaik rubbished it as a "gimmick to cheat" the people.

"Even the richest man in the world can declare having no assets if given three years to do it.

"The question is, what about the assets of their families and their companies?"

On his refusal to apologise for his comment saying that Lim had mentioned not needing the support of Indians at a state DAP dinner in March, Shaik said that a video recording of the event had been "doctored'.

"If the DAP can claim that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's alleged sex video had been doctored, the party would definitely have the ability to falsify other videos," he further alleged.