Guan Eng denies conflict of interest with Attorney-General's Chambers

Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng insisted that during his time in the federal government, he always transferred issues that were outside his scope of responsibility to the relevant authorities.

He was responding to a report today that claimed he asked the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) to unfreeze the bank accounts of a prominent tycoon. The report quoted an anonymous source who claimed this constitutes a conflict of interest.

"Cases which are not within my jurisdiction are referred to the relevant authorities," he told Malaysiakini.

"It is the relevant authorities who have the power to act," Lim (above) added.

The Free Malaysia Today (FMT) report was claimed to be based on exchanges between Lim and the then-AG Tommy Thomas. It claimed the bank accounts were frozen over some RM4 million worth of transactions in 1MDB-linked funds.

The report also claimed Lim acted "despite failing to recover the bulk of the money".

This revelation comes less than a month after former premier Najib Abdul Razak's stepson Riza Aziz was given a conditional discharge provided he return part of the money he received from the sovereign wealth fund.

Riza, the producer of "The Wolf of Wall Sreet" and "Dumb and Dumber To" pleaded not guilty to receiving a total of US$248 million (RM1.07bil) on five occasions between 2011 and 2012.

His discharge not amounting to an acquittal is conditional on him returning assets linked to the alleged crime. Otherwise, charges may be reinstated against him.

Lim said it would be wrong if he did not refer such cases to the relevant authorities. He believed Thomas had acted appropriately when the case was referred to the AGC.

"I do not have any access to such information or documents unlike FMT which seems to have full access to the matter," Lim said.

"As the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has speedily acted on the report by FMT, the anti-corruption watchdog should be allowed to carry out their investigations," he added.

Thomas had reportedly responded positively to Lim in just two weeks and ordered the MACC to lift the freeze on all four bank accounts.

This was despite the MACC informing Thomas that the bulk of the money – some RM3.9 million – could not be recovered as it was no longer in one of the bank accounts said to have received the funds.

The MACC has responded to the report by saying they are probing the leak of information. - Mkini