The Penang government had suspended the daily operations of three quarries pending a state probe on allegations that these quarries have knowingly underpaid royalty to the state.

The charge levelled at the three quarries - all located in Seberang Prai in mainland - is that they had under-declared their royalty and this have deprived the state of revenue.

The three effected quarries are Kuad Sdn Bhd, Batu Tiga Quarry Sdn Bhd and Saw Chong Teok Quarry Sdn Bhd.

lim guan eng interview pakatan one year of administration 050309 03 Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the decision to freeze these three quarries was made at the state land committee meeting yesterday.

The suspension takes affect from today.

He added that the state heavily relied on the income from various sectors, including from the quarry industries.

He said the income for the state from the quarries was RM3 for every cubic meter of laterite or stones that they dug out.

"However there has been a dispute on the real amount of royalty paid by the quarries as the money received from these quarry operators was lower than that estimated by the state," he added.

Lim also said that the state land committee has also appointed state exco member and Bukit Tambun assemblyperson Law Choo Kiang to conduct the investigation.

He hoped the three quarries would give their full co- co-operation to Law's committee, adding that the suspension would be lifted as soon as the investigation was over.

He did not expect the probe to going on for a long time.

Other quarries warned

Lim also said that Law has been given the full mandate to obtain all relevant documents in regards to the probe.

The chief minister also said that Law will also be looking into a case where the royalty for extracted soil and stones was reduced from RM3 per cubic metre to RM 1.

And he warned that the state government will be pursuing the matter in regards to all the other quarries in the state after the completion of the probe against these three.

The state probe into the three quarries followed claims made by a PKR youth leader Amizudin Ahmat that two party leaders in the state were working with several quarries to cover up illegal activities.

Amizudin claimed that these quarries were cheating on their royalty payments to the state.

Fingers were then pointed at Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who is also a PKR leader.

He subsequently resigned from his post, effective April 8, and is being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. He denied all corruption allegations.