BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan has disclosed documents refuting Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's statement that Taman Manggis land had not been sold to a third party.

One of the documents is an agreement to sell all the shares of the company that owns the land to another company based in Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya.

However, the name of the company that purchased the shares is redacted from the document distributed to the media today, which is dated Nov 11, 2015.

"The Penang chief minister has denied that the land had been sold to a third party.

"But what he did not disclose is that the land is now held by Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre Sdn Bhd (KLIDC) and the sale of the shares of KLIDC has the same effect of selling the land too," Abdul Rahman told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He said in any government project and privatisation agreement, change in ownership of a company that has been awarded a project must be notified to the state government and approved, before the sale can take place.

He questioned whether the Penang government was duly notified of this and subsequently gave approval, or whether this clause had been deleted from the agreement between the state government and KLIDC.

Malaysiakini has contacted Lim regarding Abdul Rahman's disclosure and is waiting for a response.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman disclosed another agreement also dated Nov 11 last year, pertaining to the sale of all the shares in Victoria International Medical Centre Sdn Bhd (VMC) from Tang Renewable Energy Engineering Sdn Bhd (TREE) to the Aman Suria-based company.

He alleged that the two documents are connected, and that all three companies - KLIDC, VMC, and TREE - are owned by Dr Tang Yong Chew and his wife.

“When read simultaneously, the two agreements appear to affect the sale of the medical centre and hotel project with the core asset being the land at Taman Manggis,” he said.

With the reselling to the Taman Manggis land, Abdul Rahman claimed that the resellers have netted RM70.6 million in total, which is a profit of RM59 million with the project still undeveloped.

RM18,643,628 would come from the sale of KLIDC shares, while another RM52 million would come from the sale of VMC shares.

Abdul Rahman said unredacted copies of the documents will be submitted to the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) this evening.

He explained that the names of the sellers are not redacted because it is already in public knowledge, but the name of the buyer is, in order “to be fair” to the buyer pending investigations.

The sale of the Taman Manggis land had been controversial amid allegations that the chief minister, Lim ( photo ), had purchased a bungalow along Jalan Pinhorn for RM2.8 million, which is supposedly below market price.

This is alleged to be kickback for the sale of the Taman Manggis land, as the previous owner of the bungalow, Phang Li Koon, is a business partner with Tang in yet another company, Windbond Management & Consultant Sdn Bhd.

Lim had staunchly denied allegations of wrongdoing, and pointed out that the sale of the Taman Manggis land was done via open tender where he does not sit in the tender committee.

Taman Manggis land found to be too small

Another aspect in the row over Taman Manggis is that the land was supposedly earmarked for public housing, but is instead being used for a hospital and hotel at expense of the poor.

Lim had countered this saying that the Taman Manggis land is found to be too small and had been replaced with another plot along Jalan SP Chelliah that is ten times larger , while Penang exco member Jagdeep Singh Deo revealed documents showing that the previous BN-led administration had rejected the housing project.

Asked about the land along Jalan SP Chelliah, Abdul Rahman said it cannot be compared to the Taman Manggis housing project as the former is more expensive.

“Although we didn't build a People's Housing Program (PPR) at the time, but the Penang government at the time was interested in building government quarters, which is also a housing program for citizens who are poor and have little income.

“He said this is not for PPR, we are going to SP Chelliah. I would congratulate them on SP Chelliah, but it is a totally different housing (project).

“In SP Chelliah, the lowest price for affordable housing is RM72,000, but the PPR that we are supposed to build in Taman Manggis goes for RM35,000. It is double the price, and if we rent it out, it is only for RM100 per month,” he said.

In addition, the urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister said there are currently 30,000 Penangites on the Federal government's waiting list for affordable housing, so more should be built.