SSSLGE: Lim Guan Eng Explains Why He Is Not Guilty

*All information in here have been publicly available for months and can be easily found with a simple Google search*

On the day that DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister was charged with two criminal counts of abuse of power and corruption, he held a press conference at the Penang Town Hall situated about 500 meters from the court house.

The press conference was attended by about 1000 people and he went on stage to give a stirring speech and gave the reasons why he is not guilty and why he considers this as a selective persecution.

Lim Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan have now gone on a nationwide tour which they dubbed Support-Sympathy-Solidarity or SSS-LGE  and will deliver the same reasons to audiences all over Malaysia.

      

This ceramah is also a fund-raising dinner. Table pricing is as follows:

- Platinum sponsorship: RM 3,000/table
- Gold sponsorship: RM 1,500/table
- Silver table: RM 750/table or RM 75/pax

Halal or vegetarian food is available upon request.

This is on top of the RM1.8 million or so that DAP had raised from their supporters for the refundable RM1 million bail money earlier.

The reasons given by Lim Guan Eng broadly fall into 4 categories. They are:

LGE Excuse #1: Charging Lim Guan Eng is an attack on the citizens of Penang 

LGE is trying to equate that he is equal to Penang and any action on him is equivalent to action on Penang in an attempt to take advantage of the emotions of Penang people and stir up sentiments and defiance.

This is of course untrue that "Lim Guan Eng = Penang".

In fact, he is form Malacca and not from Penang.

In fact, Lim Guan Eng himself will tell you that Penang is not your father's land as can be seen in this video where he had scolded the Penang Clan Jetty association chairman earlier this year.

While it is true that LGE bought the property for himself using his own money but it he sells it tomorrow at Market price and makes millions in profits, the money and profits will be his and not for Penang people or even for this party.

This is a personal abuse of power and corruption charges and has nothing to do with Penang or the Penang people at all..

LGE Excuse #2: Buying assets at a big discount is not an offence

Section 165 of the Penal Code is one of the two corruption charges filed on Lim Guan Eng.




"Buying and selling on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis is not a crime" is the most common excuse used by those who support DAP and Pakatan. Other than being used in multiple cartoons and propaganda videos, it has also been used by DAP's Nga Kor Ming in his now deactivated FaceBook page.

Section 165 law clearly states PUBLIC SERVANT. This corruption law does not apply to everyone. 

Unfortunately it is only a half-truth.

While it is not an offence to buy assets at discounts, it is an offence for PUBLIC SERVANTS (which LGE is classified as) to buy assets at a big discount from a seller that has business dealings with the state govt in areas where the Public Servant has involvement and influence over.

This is specifically specified under Section 165 of Malaysia's Penal Code - drafted as far back as 1937 - and is a basic anti-corruption law that all countries in the world has.

If you are not a public servant then this law does not apply to you.

For public officials, buying expensive assets at way below market price is considered a form of bribe. To understand why Malaysia and the rest of the world consider this as corruption and how Lee Kuan Yew acted differently when put into a similar spot as Lim Guan Eng, please read this:

Why is it an offence for a public official to buy a property at a discount or below market value from a person who is doing business with the govt considered a corruption offence?

Another common excuse used by LGE supporters is that certain BN leaders live in houses that are more luxurious than LGE and why are they not investigated. 

This charge has nothing to do with how expensive the house is but how you bought it and from who you bought it from. They could have alternative income charges or their own businesses.

For example, Penang EXCO Phee Boon Poh declared that he has 8 properties here and abroad but he is not investigated by MACC or PDRM because there is no evidence he bought any of those properties at a huge discount from a person doing business in the state govt where Phee has influence or control.

LGE Excuse #3: Unlike Khir Toyo's case, Phang Li Koon made RM300k by selling the bungalow 

In this excuse, LGE explains that the big difference with Khir Toyo's case where the seller lost money, Phang Li Koon made RM300k instead of losing money when selling it to Lim Guan Eng.

Untrue. 

Phang Li Koon appears to have lost a lot of money - both actual money losses and losses due to not selling the bungalow at market price.

When she bought the bungalow in the year 2008 for RM2.5 million, she also spent considerable amount of money on renovations, furnishing and extensions. This was admitted by her in her Statutory Declaration dated 22nd March 2016. 

Obviously the renovation and furnishing costs for a 10,600 square feet bungalow is not going to be cheap and for it to look like this:

This is also the reason why Lim Guan Eng and his lawyers say that the visit to his bungalow by MACC officers in May 2016 was not a raid but a routine check.

The MACC was there to check on the extent of the renovations, furnishings and house extensions - perhaps to estimate the cost incurred by Phang.

According to a Penang activist who submitted evidence to the MACC and PDRM, Phang Li Koon also took a housing loan for the house which is believed to be a 90% loan. Just interest cost alone would mean hundreds of thousands of ringgit over 7 years (calculated at RM700k over 7 years on 90% housing loan at 4.2% interest).

If the information given by the Penang activist is wrong then he would be guilty of making a false police report, which is a serious crime. So far, there has been no action taken on this person and we can assume the information is correct.

And this is before all those costs such as legal fees and stamp duties that she had to pay when she bought her property.

According to independent property valuers, the 10,600 square feet Bungalow would cost between RM6 million to RM7 million now. If she sold at this price, she would not have lost money but made money.

Even the official govt JPPH valuation is at RM4.27 million. And it is widely known that official govt valuations always lag the actual market price.

It is certainly unreasonable to believe that Penang prices for prime land in a prestigious suburb only appreciated 11% over a 7 years period.

Therefore, it is not reasonable to assume she made money when she bought in 2008 for RM2.5 million, renovated and furnished extensively, took a housing loan, and then sell for RM2.8 million seven years later in 2015.

She would easily have lost millions of ringgit (and LGE gained millions in benefits) - same as the Khir Toyo case.

Khir Toyo also claimed it was a selective persecution and he was to be used an example of Govt's anti-corruption efforts.

In fact, he was also prosecuted by the AG Gani then and his bail was initially RM1 million for one too but got reduced to RM750k as compared to LGE's RM1 million for two charges.

But Khir Toyo did not do roadshows.

LGE Excuse #4: Phang Li Koon is not a property developer with active business dealings with the state govt but supplied foreign workers only 

Untrue. Other than owning foreign workers agencies, Phang Li Koon also owns 30% of Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd (70% is owned by her boss of 20 years, Tang Yong Chew who also owns KLIDC).

Magnificent Emblem has a record of two real estate development dealings with the Penang State Govt.

One is for two large foreign workers complexes to house 9,999 workers project with the Penang Development Corp (PDC) which Lim Guan Eng is chairman and head of tender board.

This 2014 letter signed personally by Phang Li Koon herself is evidence of this:

In April 2016 at the Penang State Assembly meetings, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P.Ramasamy had confirmed that Magnificent Emblem did indeed participate AND actually won the tender in 2014.

According to the DAP Insider here: The award was later retracted as the company allegedly came back to request to buy the land from the state government outright instead of going into a 30 years lease as per the original Penang PDC Request for Proposal (RFP).

As this was a significant change in the RFP, the Penang PDC tender board could not fulfill this and had to cancel the award and re-issue the RFP.

The reason initially given by P.Ramasamy why the award was cancelled of "the company not being able to fulfill the RFP terms" is certainly not plausible as they were awarded the RFP in the first place.

If they did not fulfill the terms, how were they awarded it in the first place?

Despite multiple requests, the Penang Govt has yet to give the exact reasons or chronology why the award to Magnificent Emblem had been cancelled after being awarded.

The other project which is for a housing development in Balik Pulau where a request to convert the land from agriculture status to residential status was approved by the Penang State Planning Committee which Lim Guan Eng heads.

This is the basis of the 2nd Charge under the Section 23 of the MACC act 2009 on Lim Guan Eng.

In her Statutory Declaration, Phang Li Koon also wrote this:

It is certainly unusual for individuals to sign option agreements for residential properties - including fixing the price for 5 years. Not only was the price then much below market value but the seller has given away any potential appreciation for 5 years.

Just 3 weeks later after that options agreement on 23rd June 2014 was signed, Lim Guan Eng chaired a State Planning Committee meeting on the 28th floor at Komtar, George Town on 18 July 2014.

In this meeting, he approved a land conversion for two plots of land owned by Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd, which is 30% owned by Phang and 70% owned by KLIDC owner Tang, from agriculture to residential.

Any such land conversion would probably mean a big increase in the value of the land which could amount to millions - depending on how big the two plots of land are.

It is not certain if LGE had declared his conflict of interest or abstained from the decision making - but for the AG to charge him on this very specific charge would suggest that they have proof he was directly involved in the decision.


So far, the DAP has also not stated that LGE had abstained from such a decision or declared his conflict of interest.

DAP Penang EXCO Chow Kon Yeow had also confirmed in the Chinese press that it was the State Planning Committee (SPC) chaired by LGE which approved the conversion.

After this, Magnificent Emblem also applied for planning permission for a residential project 1 year later which seems to have been approved by most relevant agencies (picture).

Details of the above application by Magnificent Emblem can be found on the official state govt website here:.

Chow said that the project was later put on hold due to technical matters by an agency within the town council but did not specify why.

According to an ex-Councillor, the town council has no powers to overturn any land conversion by the powerful SPC but may stop planning permission based on other matters.

DAP gives the excuse that LGE is innocent because the land conversion was not completed and remains agriculture land hence Phang did not receive any benefits but what is the reason why it is not completed? What technical matters does Chow mean?

In any case, completion of the conversion is not an element within the law to prove abuse of power.

For example, if you bribe a bank manager to approve a loan but your lawyer screwed up and you have not finished all documentation to get your loan disbursed, it does not mean that abuse of power or corruption has not taken place.

Therefore, it is clear that Phang Li Koon is not just a foreign workers suppliers and not a real estate developer like in Khir Toyo case.

Unlike what Lim Guan Eng said in his ceramah, She also has substantial property development interests and active business dealings with the DAP Penang State govt - something which also seems to contradict her statutory declaration.

Even more damaging is the fact that the DAP INSIDER also revealed that Lim Guan Eng's wife Betty Chew also founded a joint company with Phang Li Koon's sisters and later Phang Li Koon herself to do "Property Consulting Services", which may lead to serious questions about conflict of interests as Lim Guan Eng is the EXCO in charge of all property and land related matters for the state government and also the head of the powerful State Planning Committee in charge of land conversion and land related matters.

This is especially true IF that company had clients which deals direct with the Penang state government on property matters.

So far, the DAP Penang Government nor Lim Guan Eng or wife has not revealed what clients that company has or what is the nature of their consultancy business projects.

This is certainly something that needs to be addressed in the interest of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT).

CONCLUSION:

For the AG himself to be leading such a prosecution and for them to very specifically mention such details in the approval of the Magnificent Emblem land conversion means that the AG is very confident of getting a conviction. If not, then the AG will lose a lot of face.

Phang Li Koon (together with Tang Yong Chew) are direct shareholders of Magnificent Emblem whereas only her boss for 20 years Tang Yong Chew is shareholder of KLIDC.

It is probably for this particular reason that if the AG believes that this is a more sure charge, he had decided not to file any charge on KLIDC yet because this comes with the additional burden to prove that Tang had given benefits to Phang over the KLIDC Taman Manggis deal or had instructed Phang to sell the bungalow.

This does not mean that there may be no future charges related to the KLIDC Taman Manggis deal or even the PDC-Magnificent Emblem deal.

It is like taking a test where you do the easy questions first before going to do the harder questions.

However, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and all Malaysians must wait for the court case to be heard and for the prosecution to release all the evidence.

Until that time, let's not make any presumption on guilt or innocence - and this goes for Lim Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan as well as going around the nation giving half-baked and untrue explanations and bare denials does not mean you are innocent.

In fact, this is bordering on perverting the course of justice.

Let the courts and Lim Guan Eng's large team of 8 different expensive lawyers do their work.

Whatever the excuses in the fiery emotional ceramahs given by Lim Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan leaders, I think many Malaysians now take these one-sided stories with a pinch of salt.

Let me remind all Malaysians:

1) EIGHT years ago, the PKR and DAP people went around doing ceramahs, jelajah, rallies and collecting donations trying to convince you that Pak Lah and KJ was absolutely guilty of all sorts of abuse of power and songlap even though none of them was charged. 

Then Pak Lah stepped down. There was never any charges and PKR and DAP people pretend nothing happened.

2) THREE years ago, the PKR and DAP people went around doing ceramahs, jelajah, rallies and collecting donations trying to convince you that BN was absolutely guilty of abuse of power and stealing the GE13 elections with blackouts and 40k "Banglas" even though there was never any solid proof but videos and posts done by "anonymous" people. 

Then BERSIH and DAP agreed there is no evidence of any blackouts or foreign voters. There was never charges and PKR and DAP people pretend nothing happened and even said they never said such things. 

3) TWO years ago, the PKR and DAP people went around doing ceramahs, jelajah, rallies and collecting donations trying to convince you that the then Selangor MB from PKR, Khalid Ibrahim was absolutely guilty of all sorts of abuse of power and songlap even though he was never charged. 

Then Khalid stepped down. There was never any charges and PKR and DAP people pretend nothing happened. In fact, PKR gave an unconditional apology in court to Khalid for all these allegations which PKR now say is false.  

4) TODAY, the PKR and DAP people are going around doing ceramahs, jelajah, rallies and collecting donations trying to convince you that Lim Guan Eng is NOT GUILTY of abuse of power and songlap even though he was charged. 

How many times you want to be made a fool of?
Fool me once, shame on you.Fool me twice, shame on me.Fool me thrice, "Am I really this dang stupid?"
Fool me 4 times, then what happens?