Investigation papers on Penang undersea tunnel to be submitted to AGC soon - Azam Baki

The investigation papers on the Penang undersea tunnel project is expected to be submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) in the near future for further action.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki said the investigation was in the final stages of completion and only a few witnesses left to give their statements to complete the probe.

“Today, we called (former Finance Minister) Lim Guan Eng to have his statement recorded for the second time but he could not attend because he was unwell.

“Tomorrow (Friday) he will not be able to attend because he has something on. Therefore, the MACC will continue recording his statement again on Saturday,” he told a press conference after the launch of the book ‘Modul Integriti dan Rasuah’, here today.

Yesterday, Lim, who is also the former Chief Minister of Penang, came to the Putrajaya MACC headquarters to have his statement recorded.

On June 30, the MACC detained a former senior official of the Penang Port Commission (PPC) to assist with investigations into elements of corruption in the undersea tunnel project which involves an estimated total cost of RM6.3 billion.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow as well as several current and former state executive council members have also been called to provide their statements to the MACC regarding the mega project.

In another development, commenting on the investigation involving former Youth and Sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Azam said they were in the final stages of completing the investigation.

“Investigations involving Syed Saddiq are still underway and there are not many witnesses to be called and I believe my investigating officers are in the final stages of resolving the case within a week before handing over the probe papers to the AGC for further action,” he said.

On July 17, the MACC denied arresting Syed Saddiq after he was called by the MACC to assist in the investigation.

Before this, local media had reported the loss of more than RM200,000 from Syed Saddiq's residence in Petaling Jaya, in March.

Meanwhile, commenting on the investigation into the land swap deals involving the Defence Ministry, Azam said the case was still being investigated.

“Indeed the MACC investigated and there are some more investigations still pending. For now, I cannot comment on the case,” he said.

He said his officers were calling several other witnesses to facilitate investigations, apart from having opened several more investigation papers on the case.

In November last year, the Defence Ministry had submitted an investigation report on 16 land swap projects to the MACC.

-- BERNAMA