GEORGE TOWN: Officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) left the offices of Penang state executive councillors at Level 52 of Komtar here this afternoon, three hours after their arrival.
The visit is believed to be part of their probe into allegations of corruption involving the Penang Undersea Tunnel project.
The first group of four officers arrived at 9.40am and entered state Public Works, Utilities and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari's office.
At the time, Zairil is believed to have been chairing a Department of Irrigation and Drainage meeting and was not present.
Speaking to newsmen later, Zairil confirmed that the MACC officers had visited his office.
The unit had been used by his predecessor, Datuk Lim Hock Seng. Lim was questioned a few years ago in relation to the project.
The officers left by 11.35am.
At the same time, three MACC officers entered Deputy Chief Minister II Professor Dr P. Ramasamy's office.
They did not question him, but spoke with his personal assistant and two guards there.
"They then took some duty schedules. I was not questioned at all," said Ramasamy.
He also claimed that the MACC officers took a photograph with him.
"Maybe it is their standard operating procedure (SOP)," he quipped.
Two years ago, Ramasamy was also grilled by the MACC pertaining to the project.
He was asked if he received any political donations and he responded in the negative.
He was also asked to confirm certain meeting minutes.
"Today was not like the last time," he said, adding that the officers left his office by 1.15pm.
On Wednesday, the New Straits Times reported that the MACC had re-launched a probe into corruption involving the Penang Undersea Tunnel project following new evidence which it received on the matter.
Sources close to the investigation told NST that more witnesses from the Penang government will be called by the MACC to assist in the probe.
Former Penang Port Commission chairman Jeffrey Chew was arrested on Tuesday and is currently under a four-day remand.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government will extend its full cooperation to the MACC on the probe.
He had said the MACC had notified the state government of its intention to interview several state leaders.
The MACC's probe, said Chow, applies only to those who had held office in the previous term.
The project had courted controversy in the past, especially over its RM305 million feasibility studies, as well as the nearly two-year delay in its completion.
The ambitious project consists of four components, including three road projects measuring 30km and an undersea tunnel, costing an estimated RM6.3 billion in total.
Last March, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin named several Penang DAP leaders and state government officials who he alleged were involved in corrupt practices involving the project.
He claimed he was given a 200-page document by an individual at the MACC, and that he would produce extracts of its contents in several online installments to expose the matter.
The MACC had in turn lodged a police report over claims made by Raja Petra in relation to the project.
In April last year, a businessman who was implicated in a scandal related to the tunnel project was slapped with 68 money-laundering charges involving RM11.4 million.