GEORGE TOWN: Documents related to the purchase of a bungalow by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was left outside the Nepal Consulate in Prai on Thursday.
The nine-page document, mostly papers from the land office - were left outside the consulate’s office in Taman Inderawasih at about 5pm.
Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan said the documents were probably the work of a whistleblower, following the uproar over Lim’s purchase of the bungalow at the Dewan Rakyat on the same day.
Huan said the existence of the documents was a good lead for the police to investigate alleged wrongdoings by Lim.
“The pertinent matter that needs to be investigated is how Lim’s bungalow was bought and sold and how certain companies were involved.
"I have handed over these documents to police, and have lodged a report on the matter,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Earlier, Huan, who is also honorary Nepal Consul-General to Penang, lodged the report at the Prai police station at 11am.
Lim’s bungalow issue cropped up during the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Thursday when Barisan Nasional (BN) member of parliament Datuk Shabudin Yahaya (BN-Tasek Gelugor), in debating the royal speech, had urged the MACC to probe the purchase of a bungalow by Lim and the sale of a piece of state land.
He had said that Lim could be "directly or indirectly" involved in the sale of the state land that was supposed to be developed for low-cost homes.
Meanwhile, pressmen present were given copies of the nine-page document, which appeared to be a paper trail, linking the former owner of the bungalow to a land in Taman Manggis here.
The documents from the Land Office claim that Lim had bought his present-day bungalow at 25, Jalan Pinhorn, from one Phang Li Koon.
Phang had purchased the bungalow for RM2.5 million in 2008.
Several Land Office records in the stack of documents also claimed to show that on Aug 17, last year, Lim had purchased the house for RM2.8 million from Phang.
Later, Huan said checks with the Companies Commission of Malaysia showed that Phang was a company director of Winbond Management & Consultancy Sdn Bhd.
He claimed that Winbond’s majority shareholder also held majority shares in the Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre Sdn Bhd (KLIDC), thus linking it with the Taman Manggis land.
However, Huan did not substantiate the Phang-KLIDC links, only through a key individual which appeared to be a ‘common denominator’ of several companies to majority shares.
The Taman Manggis land, bounded by Jalan Burma, Jalan Zainal Abidin and Lorong Selamat, was initially earmarked for the second phase of a low-cost housing project.
A Projek Perumahan Rakyat with 320 units was already built next to the vacant land.
KLIDC purchased the 0.4ha plot of land in a tender at RM232 per square feet or RM11 million to build a medical centre or hospital.
Penang Gerakan had raised its objections over the project late 2012, as the land was supposed to have been for low-cost housing; and the land was underpriced.
They were also trying to prevent the landowners from building a proposed 30-storey private hospital on the plot, which would also feature a 19-storey hotel.
Lim had then called Gerakan to buy the land at double the price, as the land title was not yet transferred to KLIDC.
With funds collected from various parties, the state Barisan Nasional banked in RM224,073 as down payment to purchase the land.Gerakan was prepared to buy the land through a consortium at RM22 million.
However, following a stalemate involving a sales and purchase agreement, the deal did not go through.
The state government has since come under fire for allegedly dragging its feet in concluding the sale transaction.
Gerakan had plans to build a high-rise building, consisting of 272 units of affordable housing, that will be rented to the poor for RM124 a month.
Today, the land remains empty, and filled with grass, facing the New World Park complex.