The Statutory Declaration Was Made By Ms. Phang On 22.3.2016 Out Of Her Own Free Will And Not Through Despicable Means As Alleged By Minister For Housing And Local Government And BN’s Director of Strategic Communications, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan
YAB Lim Guan Eng’s purchase of a bungalow in George Town last year was solely on a ‘willing buyer-willing seller’ basis between him and Ms. Phang Li Koon. This private transaction however, has since been alleged by Tasek Gelugor’s Member of Parliament, Datuk Shabudin Yahaya in Parliament as being linked to the sale of the Taman Manggis land to a third party. Since then, YAB’s invitation to Datuk Shabudin Yahaya for him to repeat his accusations beyond the comfort of Parliament’s legal immunity and to be present for a public debate in KOMTAR on 20.3.2016 and to be scrutinised based on facts and figures, was unsurprisingly declined.
This was followed by Ms. Phang’s initiative in affirming a Statutory Declaration on 22.3.2016 which confirmed, among others, the following salient facts (“Ms. Phang’s SD”) –
a. she had decided to sell the house to YAB following numerous safety concerns involving the house and attempts by unscrupulous parties to jeopardise her reputation;
b. she was willing to sell the house to YAB at RM2.8 Million since 2012. In this regard, parties had executed an agreement dated 23.6.2014 which she granted a 5-year option tenure to purchase the house at the agreed price (“Option”). In consideration for this Option, YAB agreed to pay her an ernest money of RM100,000;
c. this Option was duly exercised when parties subsequently entered into a sale & purchase agreement on 28.7.2015. She received the full amount in October 2015; and
d. it was her decision to sell the house to YAB at that price. She further stressed that she “was not pressured or forced or under any undue influence by [YAB] or any party to sell the house to [YAB] at RM2.8 million.” She went on further to state that the decision was made out of her own free will on a willing buyer and seller basis.
The mere fact that I was entrusted to read out Ms. Phang’s SD yesterday as her family member is certainly not a basis to discredit the SD’s content nor implicate YAB in any wrongdoing. Ms. Phang is a relative of mine, an innocent party being needlessly dragged through this episode. She has chosen to honour the commitment made back in 2012 to YAB, one that was made not because of material gains but for her simple belief that she could assist YAB in his housing concern. Hence, she should not be penalised for this act of goodwill.
It is a fact that she had made the statutory declaration out of her own free will and volition, and not as what was reported in the UMNO-controlled Berita Harian today. Regardless, her statutory declaration stands on its own with or without Ms. Phang’s presence in front of the media. As an individual and aggrieved party, Ms. Phang is entitled to exhaust all legal avenues, including lodging a police report, in respect of all malicious actions calculated to jeopardise her personal and family’s reputation. As a member and advisor to the Phang clan, I will personally advise and encourage her to lodge that report.
By alleging the veracity of Ms. Phang’s SD and insinuating wrongful conduct on the part of YAB, Datuk Rahman Dahlan has demonstrated audacious attempts unbecoming of a public figure. As a Federal Government Minister and BN’s Director of Strategic Communications, it would be more strategic for Datuk Rahman Dahlan to keep his dignity and self-respect in speaking the truth instead of finding ways to impress the public and harm well-meaning individuals, with baseless accusations.
(PHEE BOON POH)