I won't submit to dirty political plays: Guan Eng

PETALING JAYA: Lim Guan Eng (pix) today alleged that the charges against him under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and the Penal Code were an act of political persecution to destroy him as Penang chief minister.
He said he had explained to the MACC that the purchase of the bungalow from Phang Li Koon was an arms-length transaction on a willing buyer and seller basis without any coercion or special favours.
"Phang is a friend of my wife and has no active business relationship with the state government. She is not a housing developer and the bungalow she sold me for RM2.8 million was built in the 1980s.
"There have been attempts to draw similarities between my case and former Selangor Mentri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. This is wrong.
"Unlike Khir Toyo’s case, Phang did not make a loss of RM5 million but recorded a small profit of RM300,000 from her original purchase price of RM2.5 million and she is not a housing developer that has to be reliant on state government to continue her business," he said in a statement.
On the second charge relating to the approval of Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd's (MESB) application to re-zone its land from agricultural to residential use, Lim said MESB did not succeed in re-zoning its property to residential (purpose).
"What benefit is there to MESB when it could not get final re-zoning approval to agricultural (use) from Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang?," he asked.
He stressed that he will not submit to such dirty and vicious political plays to destroy his reputation or Penang’s image as the cleanest and best-run state in Malaysia.
"We are proud of our open competitive tenders and proud of our accolades from Transparency International and the annual Auditor-General’s Reports.
"We will fight to prove that the Pakatan Harapan government is a people-centric government that upholds its principles of integrity, justice, freedom and democracy.
"If Barisan Nasional feels they can bend or break me by arresting me, they are wrong. I will die standing (rather) than live on bended knees. A free Malaysia, a fair Malaysia, a prosperous Malaysia for all is worth fighting for," he added.