The Undersea Tunnel Conspiracy theory
The real reason behind the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat seems to be due to the policy disputes over RU355 and the Selangor MB. But could it be related to the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal?
Ong Eu Soon
The following is a conspiracy theory story that I don’t think that you can resist.
This is a conspiracy theory of Trojan horses in the 14th general election. A story started in the year 2014. An eventful year that initiated the Kajang Move and RU355 which eventually led to the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat. The real reason behind the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat seems to be due to the policy disputes over RU355 and the Selangor MB. But could it be related to the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal?
One may wonder why after I lodged many complaints against Lim Guan Eng over the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal, there was hardly any noise from BN. Why was Lim Guan Eng so daring and openly involving himself in the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal as if BN will not do anything to scrutinize the scandal?
To understand this and my conspiracy theory, let us take a look at the chronicle of events related to the Pakatan Rakyat breakup and the breakout of the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal.
On 24 Jan 2014, Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd announced that it expects to complete a feasibility study on the controversial RM6.3 billion tunnel. The report was released in April 2014.
On 27 January 2014, the Kajang incumbent PKR assemblyman, Lee Chin Cheh, resigned to pave way for a by-election. Subsequently, a by-election was held for the Selangor State Assembly seat of Kajang on 23 March 2014.
In February 2014, in a letter to Malaysiakini I questioned why there is no visible action on the feasibility studies and accused Consortium Zenith Bucg of faking the feasibility studies. In reply to my letter, Consortium Zenith Bucg threatened to sue me for defamation but the timeline for the feasibility studies suddenly changed and would no longer be completed in February 2014.
In May 2014, there was talk about DAP and PKR breaking off ties with Pas over Pas’ insistence on tabling a private members’ bill to implement hudud in Kelantan.
In June 2014, Phang Li Koon and Lim Guan Eng entered into an agreement under which she gave him the option to buy the house within five years for RM2.8m.
On 18 July 2014, while chairing the Penang State Planning Committee meeting at the operations room, Level 28, Komtar building in Penang, Lim Guan Eng approved the application for conversion of agriculture land to a public housing zone in southwest Penang to a company, Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd.
Why at this moment did DAP suddenly threaten to break-off from Pakatan Rakyat? Why did Lim Guan Eng suddenly want to buy the bungalow he had rented since 2008?
On 22 July 2014, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail received the official endorsement from party leaders to become the next Selangor Menteri Besar.
On 25 July 2014, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Astral Supreme announced that Zenith PMC Sdn Bhd has terminated its joint venture with Astral Supreme Construction Sdn Bhd (ASC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astral Supreme Bhd, to carry out a feasibility study and design of the ambitious Penang-Butterworth undersea tunnel, after it failed to secure consultants who could undertake the project within the budget and the funding requirements.
In August 2014, a RFP was called to look for a project delivery partner for the Penang Transport Master Plan projects.
I have reason to believe that while the Kajang Move maneuvering took the centre stage, behind the scenes someone tried to strike a deal to avoid prosecution by awarding the RM27 billion Penang Transport Master Plan to the crony of powers that be. The crony which someone used to condemn suddenly became the darling of the eyes. The deal was also designed to breakup Pakatan Rakyat and for Lim Guan Eng to serve a jail sentence less than a year.
On 4 August 2014, Party secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail released a 40-page document highlighting some court cases which questioned Khalid’s integrity as the Mentri Besar.
On 9 Aug 2014, Abdul Khalid was sacked from PKR.
On 17 August 2014, I was attacked by a vigilant group with the aim to shut me up after I questioned how the feasibility studies can be completed in February 2014 two months earlier than scheduled with the withdrawal of Astral Supreme Construction Sdn Bhd (ASC).
On 26 Aug 2014, Abdul Khalid Ibrahim offered his resignation.
On 23 September 2014, Azmin Ali was sworn in as the 15th Menteri Besar of Selangor.
On 7 April 2015, after 12 hours of debating, POTA was passed by Parliament without any amendment. The law was passed with 79 votes in favour and 60 against at 2.25am with the absence of 26 Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers. Among those absentees was Lim Guan Eng.
On 16 June 2015, DAP unilaterally announced that Pakatan Rakyat was dead, blaming it on Pas.
On 14 August 2015, Gamuda Bhd-led SRS Consortium was appointed as the Project Delivery Partner for the Penang Transport Master Plan projects.
In August 2015, Parti Amanah Negara was formed by taking over Parti Pekerja-Pekerja Malaysia, making it impossible for Pas to work with DAP in the near future.
On 22 September 2015, a new political alliance, Pakatan Harapan was founded.
A deal to avoid prosecution was finally struck with the award of RM27 billion projects and the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat.
In October 2015, I further pressured the state government over the status of the feasibility studies. Finally, Lim Guan Eng personally confirmed that the feasibility studies were not completed. Lim said there are two phases for the undersea tunnel project — 1A for the construction of major roads to ease connectivity to the tunnel and 1B for the tunnel itself.
“The feasibility study for 1A is now almost 85 per cent complete while it is about 25 per cent for 1B,” he said. The feasibility study for 1A is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year while the study for 1B will still be ongoing, he added.
On December 2015 , Ewein Zenith II signed the agreement to buy the 1.79ha parcel from Consortium Zenith Bucg Sdn Bhd for RM162 million.
In January 2016, Ewein’s other 60%-owned property development subsidiary Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd inked a memorandum of agreement with Consortium Zenith Bucg Sdn Bhd to grant Ewein Zenith the right to buy three parcels of land totalling 50 acres (20.23ha) at Tanjung Pinang at RM1,300 per sq ft.
The 50-acre land was earmarked for the development of the Wellness City of Dreams project, which includes a wellness resort and wellness apartments, amongst others.
On 13 April 2016, The Penang Appeals Board ordered the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) to pay RM35,000 in total costs after telling it off for appealing against the board’s stay order over a high rise project in Tanjung Pinang off Tanjung Tokong.
The board chairman Datuk Yeo Yang Poh ordered MBPP to pay costs of RM20,000 to the appellants and RM15,000 to the planning applicant.
“The board has powers to grant stay orders as provided under Section 23(3) and Section 36(10)(g) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976,” he said as he rejected MBPP’s submissions that the board did not have the power to order a stay.
The board had granted the appellants, consisting of residents of Seri Tanjung Pinang, a stay order on the planning permission for the project, City Of Dreams, which is made of two 39-storey condominium blocks.
On 17 March 2016, Tasek Gelugor parliamentarian Datuk Shabudin Yahaya revealed in parliament that Lim bought a 10,161 sq ft house on Oct 25 last year for RM2.8mil, which was believed to be between RM6mil and RM6.5mil.
On 5 May 2016, Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan asked the Penang government how the total cost of the feasibility studies, detailed design and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the undersea project came to a staggering RM305mil. Abdul Rahman said if this was the case, he questioned why the initial feasibility study was awarded to a party who allegedly did not appoint consultants or experts and had to subsequently give up the job.
He also asked why this company was paid RM139mil in advance when studies were yet to be completed, and if it was penalised for failing to adhere to the project timeline. Abdul Rahman further questioned why the state government decided to give the company 30 years of toll concession for the tunnel, on top of a payment-in-kind of 110 acres of land.
“This is a huge departure from a standard concession agreement practice where the concession company would fund the project and collect toll to recover their investment,” he said.
“And isn’t toll roads against Pakatan manifesto? he added.
He further questioned why the Penang state government agreed to pay with land valued at 2013 prices, when the project was estimated to be completed in 2025 as the prices could be substantially more.
Few days later he also asked Lim Guan Eng to give an explanation as to why feasibility studies for three related roads cost RM31 million, while the more complicated and riskier Undersea Tunnel Project is RM20 million.
On 10 May 2016, l had highlighted the issues of the exorbitant price for the feasibility studies and the undersea tunnel. I had highlighted that the feasibility study for Labrador tunnel cost only $750,00 while the feasibility study for Penang undersea tunnel cost about RM20 million. The proposed Labrador tunnel will have a minimum length of 17.4km and the total development cost is estimate to be $1.8 billion or RM5.76 billion at the exchange rate of 3.2 per Canada dollar. The cost is about RM320 million per km. Penang undersea tunnel with the length of 7.2km cost more than RM4 billion. The cost per km is RM555 million.
On 14 June 2016 Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli claimed that Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) has yet to receive RM100 million for the feasibility studies and detailed design work completed thus far for the RM6.3 billion integrated infrastructure project in Penang. The amount due includes the 83% feasibility studies done on the 7.2km undersea tunnel connecting Butterworth on the mainland and Gurney Drive on the island.
On 29 June 2016, Lim was arrested by the MACC on the 28th floor of the Komtar building at 5.45pm, while Phang was arrested at 4.15 pm, at her 6th floor office in Penang Garden.
On 27 Jul 2016, the cost of the Penang Transport Master Plan projects was reported to have ballooned to RM46 billion.
Is this another attempt with a sweetened deal to avoid being prosecuted for the corruption and abuse of power in the Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal?
On 8 September 2016, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia was founded.
On 2 December 2016, Mudajaya Group Bhd announced that it had received the letter of award for Package Two which involves building the Ayer Itam to Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu by-pass of Penang major roads and Third Link project in the state. “The project is targeted to be completed in 36 months from the date of site possession, which is expected to be in the second half of 2017,” it said.
In December 2016, Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd had publicly reprimanded construction and property development company Vizione Holdings Bhd (formerly Astral Supreme Bhd) and nine former directors for breaches of the Main Market Listing Requirements. The regulator said in a statement that eight out of the nine former directors were also fined a total of RM1.112mil.
The biggest fine — RM540,000 — was imposed on former managing director Ong Tai Chin @ Wong Tai Chin.
Among the breaches committed by Vizione was failure to establish an internal audit function during the financial years ended Dec 31, 2011 and 2012 — that is, until the appointment of a new internal auditor on March 15, 2013. The audit committee failed to review the adequacy of the internal audit function and internal audit plan and/or report during the two financial years.
The company was also reprimanded for submitting the annual audited financial statements for the financial year ended 31 Dec 2013, one month after the deadline and showing a 154% deviation between the audited and the reported unaudited loss after tax and minority interest for that financial year.
On 14 Jan 2017, the Penang government was given a breakdown of how much it had paid in kind for studies of the proposed Penang undersea tunnel and three major roads project to date.
On 14 March 2017, PPBM officially joined Pakatan Harapan as a member party.
In June 2017, after being fed-up with the slow response from MACC regarding my complaints against Lim Guan Eng over numerous corruption cases, I decided to throw the most explosive allegations against Lim Guan Eng by writing an article titled The Grand Scheme of Stealing Billions by Penang Chief Minister to Malaysia Today. My allegations threatened to derail all the public infrastructure projects in Penang. BN knew that I have lost my patience; it is time to act.
On 29 June 2017, Barisan strategic communications director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan announced that he was giving the Penang Government a week to explain BEM’s findings, failing which the matter would be referred to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. This followed after Barisan’s strategic communication team sought the professional opinion of BEM on the costing of the three paired roads.
The board was said to have replied that the RM177 million in detailed design costs was four times higher than the maximum allowed under the gazetted scale of fees, which the board calculated to be RM41 million.
On 14 July 2017, the Presidential council line-up of Pakatan Harapan was confirmed.
On 18 July 2017, Datuk Huan Cheng Guan lodged a police report in Penang over the tunnel project.
On 22 July 2017, Datuk Huan Cheng Guan, together with several party members, arrived at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters with “evidence” of misuse of power related to the project.
“For the past few months, evidence of corruption had emerged. Some were reported in the press, some were surrendered to us, some were gathered through our own investigation.
“We are handing over all these documents to the MACC, and we leave it to them to investigate,” Huan said. Huan declined to disclose the evidence but showed reporters several bundles of “documents”.
“There are a lot of documents in here. I might have to stay here for the next few days,” said Huan.
On 22 August 2017, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the property developer and sheet metal fabricator said its 60%-owned subsidiary and CZ (previously Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd) had mutually terminated their sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the 4.4252-acre (1.79ha) land in Section 1, Tanjung Pinang.
They also agreed to release and discharge each other from the rights, liabilities and obligation contained in the SPA subject to the terms and conditions in the termination agreement.
On 30 August 2017, VIOR Holdings Berhad had entered into a share subscription agreement (“SSA”) with Consortium Zenith pursuant to which the Company will subscribe for 3,500,000 new ordinary shares representing 13.21% in Consortium Zenith (“Subscription Shares”) for a cash consideration of RM9.86 million (“Subscription Price”). Upon completion of the Proposed Share Subscription, Consortium Zenith intends to utilise the cash proceeds arising thereof for general corporate and working capital purposes. VIOR Holdings Berhad later changed its name to Vertice Bhd.
On 10 November 2017, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Mudajaya said its unit Mudajaya Corp Bhd and Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd) had mutually decided that it would be difficult to proceed with the obligations under the letter of award and further proceed with the project due to some uncertainties.
Uncertainties that are making it difficult to carry on the project include the uncertainty in being able to secure the exact date for the site possession, the uncertainty in signing the construction contract, and insufficient information provided for the project causing a lapse of time to the timelines in the letter of award.
On 5 Jan 2018, Datuk Huan Cheng Guan lodged a report and gave new evidence on the Penang undersea tunnel project to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). He urged the MACC to investigate whether there were elements of misconduct or corruption in the bidding for the controversial project costing RM15 billion.
On 7 January 2018, I made the following allegations based on this conspiracy theory.
There is no way the opposition can win in the coming general election. Long ago, when I exposed the scandals and malpractices of the Lim Guan Eng administration, civil society refused to look into my complaints and compromised their principles for political expediencies. But the undercurrent didn’t disappear and a deal was struck.
If you think that BN has mercy for Lim Guan Eng, you must be in your wildest dreams. Without public knowledge, Lim Guan Eng struck a deal with BN to avoid jail terms of more than 20 years. Lim Guan Eng purportedly framed himself in a below-market price purchase of his bungalow. Just one week before he approved the application for land conversion by the seller from agricultural land to residential land, Lim Guan Eng purportedly signed a pre-purchase agreement that fixed the price of his bungalow below market price. This is to facilitate the prosecutor to prosecute him in a court of law.
Lim Kit Siang enticed the so-called reformists of Pas to form Amanah in order to sabotage Pakatan Rakyat. After breaking off from Pakatan, Lim Kit Siang purportedly brought PPBM to form a new alliance in order to sideline PKR. Senior Lim even went all out to make sure Dr M is the candidate for PM. This move was designed to cause infighting among Anwar, Muhyiddin and Dr M. Supporters of DAP at the same time disappeared from major events organised. Lim Guan Eng, in order to achieve self-destruction and self defeat, purportedly acted stupid in current flood disasters. Talked and acted like he had lost his brain.
Lim Guan Eng, like a mad dog, started to create trouble with Chinese community leaders. All is done with the aim to sabotage Harapan in the coming election with the exchange of 20 years jail terms to one year in prison.
Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng have virtually transformed themselves to become the Trojan horse in order to defeat Harapan.
On 9 Jan 2018, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raided the premises of four state government agencies and three companies in Penang in relation to the state’s proposed undersea tunnel project.
Two “datuks” were detained separately by MACC. The next day, Putrajaya Magistrate’s Court extended the remand on the two “datuks” in MACC’s investigation into the Penang undersea tunnel project for another five days.
On 23 Jan 2018, the anti-graft agency detained an engineering consultant to allow a probe into the Penang undersea tunnel project.
The woman, in her 50s, was arrested when she arrived at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya at 6.10pm.
On 25 Jan 2018, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested the chairman of an engineering consultancy firm in relation to the probe on the Penang undersea tunnel project.
On 27 Feb 2018, the MACC seized assets worth more than RM7.5 million belonging to a “Datuk Seri” businessperson who allegedly received RM19 million in payment to help stop an official probe into the Penang tunnel project.
Today, after summing up my conspiracy theory, I am making this call to fellow Malaysians to punish DAP, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng for the ultimate betrayal.
In the 12th general election, we had celebrated the dawn of a new era where we sincerely believed will bring about a transparent government with less corruption.
In the 13th general election, we were so excited about the prospect of defeating BN and bringing changes to our political landscapes.
As time passed by, the corruption in the Harapan governing states was no longer a myth.
Yet, our social activists are in denial to the extent of corruption in Harapan governing states. As bad as it is for armchair analysts to ignore the facts about corruption, it is far worse when Harapan leaderships do.
Harapan leaderships are ignoring bigger, more pernicious corruption right under their own noses.
The Penang Roads and Tunnels projects scandal, the Penang Transport Master Plan projects scandal, the Penang land reclamation projects scandal, the Selangor Water Concession scandal, the Ijok Land scam scandal, all in the tune of billions of ringgit.
Problems are being swept under the carpet and efforts to fight corruption are being thwarted as a result.
There is little indication that Harapan has sought to address the forms of corruption that plagued the fledgling coalition.
Harapan has no political will to develop any approach in identifying the corruption challenges it wishes to confront or to understanding how its anti-corruption work might benefit the country.
While attacking the ruling coalition, BN, of corruption and kleotocracy, Harapan wants the voters to choose the lesser evil. It is really problematic for voters to support another political coalition which is equally corrupt especially if they increase the perception among the people that ignoring the corruption of Harapan’s political allies is a necessary and legitimate way of defeating BN.
All Harapan is interested in is our votes, not our desires for change. Should we vote for Harapan just to legitimize another corrupted coalition in our obsession to defeat BN?
