Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has again denied BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan's allegations that the Taman Manggis land in Penang had been sold to a third party.

Lim also denied allegations that the shares of the company that owns the land, Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre Sdn Bhd (KLIDC), had been sold to a third party.

The Bagan MP said Abdul Rahman's allegations were baseless, because a document search with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) has found that the shareholders are still the same unlike what the minister had claimed.

“ Don't make insinuations or accusations without basis. Otherwise, he would become the minister of rumours or slander.

“ This morning he repeated the allegation that KLIDC had been sold to another company. This is not a news story. This is a 'stale fried rice' story.

“ I have answered this before. I have said the land titles clearly showed that it is still owned by KLIDC. This counters the allegation that the land had been sold to another company. That's a fact. The land is still held by KLIDC and it was done through open tender,” he said.

Personal attacks

Lim was speaking at a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

He also showed documents to members of the press to prove that ownership of KLIDC had not changed hands.

While Lim's document search had been purchased from the CCM today, the CCM's information is only updated up to Aug 27 last year.

The agreements disclosed by Abdul Rahman this morning are dated later, on Nov 11 last year. This includes an agreement to sell all of KLIDC shares to an undisclosed third party.

Meanwhile, Lim said the state government was also unaware of any transfer of the land to any other company.

“ He (Abdul Rahman) said the shares had been transferred to someone else. The state government had never received any letter on the transfer of this land to another company. If there is (land transfer to another company), there needs to be permission from the state government.

“ I don't understand the basis of Abdul Rahman's allegations. He is trying to end Pakatan Harapan's political work in Penang, but please follow the facts too.

“ I don't know about the agreement (to transfer shares). He knows about an agreement I wasn't aware of. What we are saying are facts – that KLIDC shareholders are still shareholders. No change,” he said.

Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general, urged the Kota Belud MP to explain his allegations this morning.

He said the matter should be explained by Abdul Rahman and not himself.

“ He is making personal attacks. I want to ask him, what happened? I think he has to explain it and not me,” he said.

This morning, Abdul Rahman had disclosed two documents to refute Lim's claim that Taman Manggis had not been sold to a third party.

Among the documents is an agreement to sell all the KLIDC shares to another company based in Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya.

However, the name of the buyer is redacted from copies of the agreement that Abdul Rahman distributed to the press.

Abdul Rahman said the sale of the KLIDC shares is in effect the same as the sale of the Taman Manggis land.