Nasruddin not apologising over Penang govt 'slander'

 PAS central committee member Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi further stoked the flames in his ongoing spat with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, saying allegations that he had slandered the DAP leader are unfounded.

He said the fact that certain quarters from Pakatan Rakyat hammered Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim over several issues and not Lim showed "favourtism and opportunistic behaviour."

Solely scrutinising Khalid on the Kinrara- Damansara Expressway (Kidex) was unfair, Nasruddin wrote in his Facebook on Friday, adding that the construction of the Subsea Tunnel in Penang was also equally controversial.

"I am referring to the Subsea Tunnel because it has issues similar to Kidex and since the second quarter of 2013, many have voiced their dissatisfaction over the level of transparency involved in the project.

"My earlier statement on this was in fact based on public data collected following questioning over the construction of the tunnel, therefore, allegations by Guan Eng of me committing slander is unfounded," he said.

The statement came a day after Lim had given Nasruddin 24 hours to apologise for "attacking" the Penang government.

Nasrudin said the project was classified as 'direct negotiation' not in the true sense of an open tender.

"In actual fact, the bigger issue is that a partner of the company that eventually won the tender had signed an MoU with the Penang Government six months ahead of the pre-qualification process.

"Anyone who is well-versed with contracts and construction projects should know that this was in fact not an open tender and that Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) did in fact get special treatment," he said.

Nasruddin said the next pressing issue was Penang's budget as Lim had told the state assembly that the government was RM255.4mil in deficit in 2014 and RM262.04mil in 2013.

"Hence my question is why they would plan yet another mega project, considering the fact that Penang recently had its second bridge," he said.

Nasruddin added that these were merely some of the issues related to the Subsea Tunnel and hence the reason for him to state that some PR leaders were practising double-standards.

On Wednesday, Nasruddin, who is Temerloh MP, came to Khalid's defence over his handling of the Kidex deal, blaming PR for practising double standards.

He said it was unfair for Kidex to have received that much of scrutiny as it was in fact a project initiated by the Federal Government unlike the tunnel project which was directly under the purview of the Penang Government.

In response, Lim gave Nasruddin 24 hours to apologise or he would initiate court proceedings.