DAP's Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng today lodged a police report at the Sentul district police headquarters over the alleged 'gift' of a car given by construction firm Axis Construction Sdn Bhd (ACSB) to the wife of Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai.

The report was lodged based on an article which appeared in the Malaysia Today web portal on Oct 14.

liow tiong lai pc 151009 04 The article - ‘To The Health Minister YB Dato Liow' - claimed that Liow's wife Lee Su Loo apparently took delivery of a Toyota Alphard (with registration number WSB 15) costing nearly RM600,000 on her birthday in January.

The article further alleged that ACSB paid for the down-payment of the vehicle totalling over RM300,000 with a Hong Leong Bank cheque number HLB 373727.

ACSB is also said to have been paying the monthly instalment of the said vehicle by depositing about RM5,000 every month into the Public Bank saving account (account number 4487469902) under the name of the health minister's wife.

The article further alleged that Axis Construction is a construction firm that has figured prominently in the list of contracts awarded by the Health Ministry.

"We are lodging the report today because we want the truth. We want to know if the allegations in the Malaysia Today article are facts or just a fabrication," Lim said.

"We are not reporting this to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) because we don't know if this is true or not," Lim added.

"If the allegations are true, we want the police and MACC to take action against the guilty parties. If the accusations are false, then the police can charge the writer and publisher of the article under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation," he added.

He also denied that the police report was linked to the ongoing MCA power struggle.

Liow, a party vice-president, was appointed as the MCA deputy president last week to replace the sacked Dr Chua Soi Lek although many had expected him to replace the embattled party president Ong Tee Keat who lost a vote of confidence at the party's EGM on Oct 10.

No response from Liow

NONE The DAP parliamentarian also told reporters that they waited until today to lodge the report to allow for a reply from Liow over the issue. He said the minister had failed to respond to their queries.

"It is also a question of timing, the letter (article) alleged that the payments were made on the 19 of every month, today is the 18th... tomorrow is due for another payment. So the police can investigate," he added.

Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo-Burne was also present when the report was lodged.

"The public often take what is published on the Internet at face value, we need to authenticate and verify this matter," added the PKR man.

Lip was also accompanied by his two special assistants, A Murugeshu and Francis Ng.