Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon received another salvo from Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today for holding the state government accountable for the condition of Pulau Jerejak, an island resort off the state coast.

Lim said the management of the island by Tropical Island Resort (TIR) was approved by Koh himself when the state was under Barisan Nasional’s rule, from 1992 to 2007.

lim guan eng koh tsu koon Lim reminded Koh that the management of the jetty and island was under TIR, and not the state, where the Urban Development Authority (UDA) owned 51 percent of the company while the state-owned Penang Development Corporation (PDC) owned 49 percent of it.

The company was then handed over to UDA, causing the PDC to incur a loss of RM19 million, he added.

“Almost all usable land in Pulau Jerejak had been handed over to UDA by Koh during his tenure as chief minister,” said Lim at a press conference in Komtar today.

“What is worse is that PDC’s investment of RM15.435 million on TIR and a loan of RM3.6 million, a total of about RM19 million, to the company cannot be recovered,” he lamented.

Koh, who is also Penang BN chairperson and a federal minister, had blamed the Pakatan-led state government for the condition of the Bayan Bay departure jetty, Pulau Jerejak and the management of Tropical Island Resort during a BN workshop last Sunday.

Koh was upset that the key to the boat was missing and there were snakes in the store room.

He had also said the BN would be exposing the Pakatan state government’s weaknesses come March as the coalition had been allowing the latter to criticise it for some time already.

Lim, who is DAP national secretary-general, said Koh was “irresponsible” for blaming the state government over the matter as he himself had previously approved of the management by UDA from 1992 to 2007.

He urged Koh to come clean on the RM19 million unrecovered investment and loan to TIR.

“Is Koh brave enough to explain about the new Pulau Jerejak scandal of RM19 million, or will he wait until March to do it, or will he be not brave enough to clarify this scandal?” he queried.