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Malaysia’s opposition leader Lim Guan Eng, who is also the chief minister of the prosperous northern island of Penang, was arrested on Wednesday by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for alleged graft.
Lim is secretary general of the Democratic Actions Party (DAP), a secular, predominantly ethnic Chinese party, who has strongly criticised Prime Minister Najib Razak for his involvement in financial scandals.
“This is the obvious effect of the two by-election wins in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar where the prime minister felt that he has won a big victory and he can do what he likes,” Lim Kit Siang, the father of Lim Guan Eng told the South China Morning Post.
Despite allegations of massive corruption over state investment fund 1MDB, Najib’s ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) won two by-elections two weeks ago.
He says his son is expected to be charged on Thursday with two counts of graft.
MACC said Lim was arrested at 5.45pm at his office over his purchase of his bungalow home from a woman named Phang Li Koon, who was also detained.
MACC said both were arrested after receiving instructions from the Attorney-General’s office to charge the duo in court on Thursday, according to reported the English daily The Star. Lim has been accused of paying a below market price for his 2.8 million ringgit (US$687,000) bungalow in Penang.
Ruling party lawmakers have said the house is worth more than double that amount, and the anti-graft agency has been probing the sale since early this year.
Lim has previously been jailed under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for his political activism.
Members of the Democratic Action Party campaigning against Lim’s conviction on sedition charges for criticising the Malaysian judiciary in 1998. Photo: AP
Lim has led Penang, one of three states run by the opposition, since 2008. He has a record of having a clean government in Penang, introducing open tenders for contracts and publicly declaring his personal assets. When he bought the house, he said it was an open transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller.
Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara issued a statement slamming the government.
“The Najib administration is now abusing all its paws of power to politically persecute its leaders to cripple the opposition before the General Election. The DAP condemns the politically-motivated persecution of Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng.”
Pua went on to say Lim had “demonstrated proof that there was no impropriety” in the purchase of the bungalow and said the MACC’s move to prosecute Lim “coincided with the resignation of the top two MACC officials just days earlier”.
Opposition lawmaker Charles Santiago said the arrest is an “act of intimidation and abuse”. Another lawmaker, Tian Chua, said it could be a “prelude to an all-out assault on the entire opposition”.
Other opposition members slammed Lim’s arrest as a double standard, noting that no one has been charged over the billions of dollars missing from 1MDB.
Najib has been grappling with accusations of corruption and mismanagement over allegations that nearly US$700 million was channelled into his personal bank accounts from the fund.
Under pressure to resign, Najib has denied the money came from the fund. The government cleared him in January, saying the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family and that Najib had returned most of it. The explanation was met with widespread scepticism.
1MDB, which Najib started in 2009, is mired in debt and is being investigated in several countries over alleged embezzlement. A Malaysian parliamentary inquiry also recently found massive unexplained payments and called for a police investigation of the fund’s former head.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
