Guan Eng uncertain if NST, BH part of Harapan gov't

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is unsure if mainstream newspapers, such as the New Straits Times (NST) and Berita Harian (BH), are part of the Pakatan Harapan government.

At the Penang High Court today, Lim was posed this question by the former state BN chairperson's lawyer, Kek Boon Wei: "Are you saying the NST is part of the government?"

To which a bewildered Lim replied: “Today ah? We are still wondering.”

In his cross-examination of Lim earlier, Kek had told him, “You said NST was part of the government at that time before the 14th general election".

Lim is suing ex-Penang BN chairperson Teng Chang Yeow for defamation over allegations that he (Lim) had lied over his statements involving the undersea tunnel and roads project, through the English language daily NST and Malay daily BH in January last year.

High Court judge Rosilah Yop presided over the court proceedings today while lawyer Simon Murali represented Lim who is the former Penang chief minister.

Testifying on the witness stand, Lim agreed that Teng (photo below) had "editorial control" over the two mainstream newspapers' reportage on the undersea tunnel and three main roads project.

Lim said "yes" when it was suggested by Kek that NST and BH were part of the government at that time and Teng was able to control what was published.

Lim also said "yes" when asked by Kek if he felt Teng had control over the headlines and introductions of stories which Lim said he found to be "defamatory".

Teng's alleged defamatory remarks appeared in three articles published in NST and BH on Jan 17 and Jan 19, 2018, where he purportedly implied that Lim lied about “not paying a single sen” to the undersea tunnel and roads project contractors.

Teng, who was also Penang Gerakan chief, had refuted the statement and claimed that a RM11.2 million fee was paid by the Penang government to engineering firm HSS Integrated Sdn Bhd as independent checking engineers (ICE) for the project.

When queried about the RM11.2 million fee today, Lim said the state government selected and paid for the ICE company to "ensure a company that would be transparent during its vetting of the project".

He said the RM11.2 million would later be claimed from the contractors adding the project did not take off as there were several pending reports required by Putrajaya which had yet to be furnished by the state then.

The trial is expected to continue until Thursday. - Mkini