A PAS parliamentarian came under fire today for the “malicious slander” he made against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, linking him to claims that direct negotiations were used to award the Penang undersea tunnel project.

The Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement that it was “shocked” by the unprovoked attack made by Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan on Lim.

“It is obvious that he has used dirty Umno tactics to create malicious slander on the chief minister,” says the statement.

It added that Lim would answer the allegation made by Nasrudin at a press conference at noon tomorrow.

Nasrudin today questioned why Lim was not getting similar flak within Pakatan Rakyat over the Penang government’s undersea tunnel project, compared with the flak Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was getting over the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project.

He alleged that Lim had in fact used direct negotiations to award the RM4.63 billion project to Construction Zenith BUCG Bhd, a claim that the CM had denied in March 2012.

Nasruddin also claimed that the Penang government had recorded budget deficits in the past six years.

“What is in his (Lim’s) mind that he spends so excessively on something that is unnecessary?” he had asked.