Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today apologised if the state's policy of maintaining illegal structures from the BN era had caused problems for the people.

"I don't deny that due to the state government's policy of maintaining all structures prior to 2008, such as the Sungai Lembu factory which was built before 2008 and inherited from the BN state government, it had caused negative effects on the people.

"I would like to apologise on behalf of the state government for the policy if it had caused problems for the people," he told journalists in Georgetown today.

The government's inaction over the Sungai Lembu carbon filtering factory, which was illegally set up in 2007, had sparked a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe and the arrest of Penang exco Phee Boon Poh.

Phee had allegedly instructed the local council to hold back action against the factory...