Giving false evidence and a property management company under the wife? (UPDATED)
By DAP Insider
It has been two months since I wrote “MORE LEAKED DOCS: WHY GET PHANG LI KOON INTO DEEPER TROUBLE?”
http://www.malaysia-today.net/
Since then, much has happened to DAP and to Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
In between disasters in the Sarawak Elections and the by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar, the MACC has proceeded with their corruption investigations into CM Lim.
During this period too, my previous expose about the KLIDC owner Tang Yong Chew and Phang Li Koon owned Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd was proven 100% correct when this question was posed officially in the recent Penang Assembly where Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy had no choice but to answer.
Ramasamy confirmed that the first Workers Quarters Request for Proposal (RFP) valued at between RM25 million to RM30 million issued by Penang PDC where Lim Guan Eng is the Chairman and head of tender committee was won by Phang Li Koon’s Magnificent Emblem.
This is despite Magnificent Emblem not having any experience in building or operating workers complex whereas their competitor, the Singapore-listed Centurion Corp Ltd is a specialist in this area and has much greater experience and financial strength.
Centurion Corp also put in a much better and more complete proposal for a much bigger and more complete complex but it was rejected by Lim Guan Eng who openly told the Tender board “You must also look at the design” – alluding to Magnificent Emblem’s building facade looks nicer.
But Ramasamy gave the excuse that the award was cancelled because Magnificent Emblem was not able to fulfill the RFP condition regarding hakmilik tanah.
This is a lie.
You must ask Ramasamy why the letter of award was given to the company if they did not fulfill the RFP condition in the first place which would mean they would have been disqualified outright instead of being issued a letter of award?
The reality is that the company got greedy and wrote back asking to change the terms of condition from 30 years lease to an outright purchase.
This was a material change in the entire RFP and if this was allowed then all the tender committee members would be in trouble – therefore the tender committee had no choice but to annul this RFP and the award to Magnificent Emblem and call for another RFP.
During my two months absence from writing, the MACC had also visited Lim Guan Eng’s now famous 25 Pinhorn Road bad fengshui bungalow without a swimming pool.
Lim’s lawyers did not make a big fuss out of this visit and maintained it was not a raid but a “routine visit” requested by the MACC after Lim Guan Eng had attended one of many sessions with the MACC.
The MACC was there for over an hour to inspect the extensive house extension, renovations and furnishing that Phang Li Koon had paid for which are estimated to be worth RM1 million made between Novermber 2008 and June 2009 before it was rented to Lim Guan Eng for a bargain RM5,000 per month.
These renovations substantially added to Miss Phang’s RM2.5 million purchase cost. Along with the bank loan interest that she had to pay over the 7 years before she sold the house to Lim Guan Eng for a much-below market price of RM2.8 million in Aug 2015, it is guaranteed that Phang had lost actual money on the sale – even before taking into account that she could have made millions of ringgit, instead of losing millions, by selling the highly-desireable address for the prevailing RM6.5 million market price then.
It was during this visit by MACC to the bungalow which the DAP ADUN RSN Rayer also attended that quite a silly mistake was made.
Rayer had parked his car outside the Pihorn Road bungalow and left his notes on Lim Guan Eng’s MACC case face-up in his car seat.
May reporters and curious on-lookers had converged at Lim’s house then when the MACC came visiting and one of them took this picture of Rayer’s notes.
In his notes, there are references to many cash payment transactions and also mention about many possible charges under Section 27.
Section 27 of the MACC 2009 act relates to giving false evidence and is punishable with a maximum fine of RM100,000 or a maximum jail term of 10 years or both for each instance.
This means that on top of the possible corruption charges related to the bungalow, Taman Manggis and Magnificent Emblem, there could also be additional charges for giving false evidence for either Lim Guan Eng, wife, Phang Li Koon or a combination of these three persons.
You must ask RSN Rayer if this note is indeed his hand writing. Was he really this careless or did he expose this deliberately?
Also in Rayer’s note was reference to a company called Excel Property Management and Consultancy Sdn Bhd whose main line of business was given as (surprise, surprise) Property Management and consultancy.
This company was founded by Lim Guan Eng’s wife Betty Chew and a sister of Phang Li Khoon.
Betty was both a shareholder as well as a director of this company.
Later on, a few of Phang Li Koon’s brothers and sisters joined in as shareholders and directors – all giving the same address.
Then Betty Chew resigned and Phang Li Koon herself took over as director.
Now, Lim Guan Eng is the EXCO in charge of land matters, head of the powerful State Planning Committee as well as Chairman of the Penang PDC – which means her wife would have had definite advantages if she was in the business of providing “property management and consultancy” services in Penang.
Who would not want to have “consultants” with access to the most powerful person over land matters and planning permission in Penang?
Other than providing such services, the company also made applications for several parcels of land for strategically located petrol stations to be owned by them.
This requires state government approval including land that also requires Penang PDC approval.
You must ask Lim Guan Eng if there was such applications either made directly or indirectly by Excel Property Management for such approvals and if they were granted.
And what other businesses have Betty and Phang Li Koon done together?
At the time of writing, news have reached us that the MACC had completed additional investigations as requested by the AG on Lim Guan Eng’s bungalow and Taman Manggis scandal.
The investigation paper has now been handed back to the AG Office to decide whether charges will be pressed.
This is a nervous time for Lim Guan Eng and we wish him all the best. Not all of the DAP grass-roots wants to see him in trouble but there are many who do.
At this moment in time, under relentless questioning by the public, Lim Guan Eng and gang are also having a very difficult time explaining the multiple flip-flops, seemingly lopsided terms for the RM6.3 billion Penang Tunnel/three roads project and overpriced RM305 million feasibility studies and detailed design cost.
There are of course, more exposures regarding this Penang Tunnel project. Stay tuned.
