Penang PAS Youth leader lodges MACC report against Guan Eng, Tommy Thomas

GEORGE TOWN: A PAS Youth leader has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and former attorney general Tommy Thomas over abuse of power.

In a statement read outside the Penang MACC office, state deputy PAS Youth leader Abdul Razib Abdul Rahim said he was making the report alleging that Lim and Thomas had abused their positions by lifting a freeze on the bank accounts of tycoon Lim Soon Peng.

"I believe Thomas, who had a direct or indirect interest, had used his office and influence to unfreeze Soon Peng's account although the MACC had said the tycoon had failed to return RM4mil to the government," said Abdul Razib here on Tuesday (June 9).

The youth leader urged the MACC to investigate the allegations against Lim and Thomas under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 or any other laws which provided for it.

Earlier, the MACC had confirmed it lifted a freeze on the businessman's accounts following exchanges between two top officials of the previous Pakatan Harapan government.

A source said what was reported was factual and true.

"We believe there was a breach of confidentiality here, and we want to investigate this," said the source.

An online portal had reported that Lim had, in 2019, asked the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to lift restrictions on the tycoon’s four bank accounts, which were frozen to facilitate an investigation into money laundering.

Thomas allegedly responded two weeks later, informing Lim of case details and instructing MACC to lift the freeze.

This was despite MACC informing Thomas that the bulk of the money – some RM3.9mil – could not be recovered as it was no longer in one of the bank accounts said to have received the funds.