An aide to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has filed a police report over a screenshot posted on social media of what appeared to be a tweet by the CM saying that he is to be arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and interrogated for the Jalan Pinhorn bungalow case.
“I have lodged the police report with regards to the screenshot and comment as it is slander by irresponsible parties,” said Yap Lee Ying, who is the state Information Department communications director and is the one tasked with managing Lim’s Twitter account.
The report was lodged at the Jalan Patani police station in Georgetown, Penang at 11.21 this morning.
The screenshot posted by Facebook user H’ng Khoon Leng showed a tweet purportedly by Lim in Malay saying, “Saya akan ditahan dan disoalsiasat SPRM berhubung kes rasuah dm pembelian rumah mewah di Georgetown. Doakan saya” (I will be detained and interrogated by MACC about the purchase of a luxury house in Georgetown. Pray for me).
The Facebook user posted the screenshot with the comment “Guan Eng or his troopers trying to play the sympathy game…hahaha…I doubt SPRM is so fast, my 2009 SPRM report on the bungalow, still not yet interview me”.
Yap said that as the officer in charge of Lim’s Twitter account, she was informed of the post yesterday night but found that there was no corresponding tweet in the CM’s Twitter.
She decided to lodge the police report as the posting and its comment can lead to the public to be prejudiced against Lim and may cause him to be demeaned despite having no actual basis. She also posited that some of the comments generated on the screenshot posted also carried implied threats to the CM.
Lim is indeed being investigated by the MACC over the rental and purchase of his current residence, as some have claimed that he rented and bought it at a rate that is far cheaper from the norm. However, he has not yet been called to have his statement recorded.
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