GEORGE TOWN: Who is indeed telling the truth?
This is the poser raised by Pulau Betong assemblyman Datuk Muhammad Farid Saad following contradictory answers given by two state DAP lawmakers over payment made for studies conducted for the proposed undersea tunnel and three paired road projects.
The Barisan Nasional lawmaker said state Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow had defended the Penang government against allegations that it had overpaid the project's consultation fees by 400 per cent.
He said Chow had explained that a sum of RM177.5 million paid in full was for the detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA).
"This is contrary to what state Public Works Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng had answered me at the recent state legislative assembly sitting.
"As such, I urged Lim to come clean on whether Chow's or his statement is correct.
"If Chow's answer is correct, this means Lim had misled the august house," he said.
If that is the case, Farid said, action should be taken against Lim for misleading the house.
Chow had told newsmen recently that there was no truth to allegations that the state government had overpaid the consultation fees four fold.
This comes after Barisan Nasional strategic communications (BNSC) director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the DAP-led government had allegedly paid four times higher than the gazetted scale of fees for consultation.
He also gave Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng one week to come out with an explanation, adding that if his answer was unjustifiable or if he remained silent on the issue, the matter would be escalated to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
The BNSC team had however rejected the Penang government's explanation over the alleged overpayment of consultancy fees for the construction of three roads in the state.
BNSC deputy director Datuk Eric See-To said this was after the team conducted a preliminary assessment of the reasons given by Chow, who had claimed that the state overpaid the project's consultation fees by 17.6 per cent, and not 400 per cent as previously alleged by BNSC.