Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng refuted claims that he was denied entry into China for offending the Chinese government.
Lim was responding to claims made by Umno lawmaker Tan Sri Annuar Musa who sought clarification why the Finance Minister was not included in the list of delegates for the planned trip to China.
Anuar claimed that Lim was behind several raids by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against Chinese companies recently, and questioned if Lim’s exclusion on an upcoming trip to China was due to a request by Beijing.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit China from Aug 17 to 21. He is reported to meet China President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, as well as visit the offices of Zheijang Geely Holding Group and Alibaba Group in Hangzhou.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s delegation includes some ministers but Lim is not among them.
Lim said that claims of him being dropped from the list of delegates visiting China were baseless.
“These accusations are not justified.
“I don’t understand why the Ketereh MP gave the impression that I wanted to fix up the contractors from China.
“It’s just his imagination,” Lim said when winding up his ministry’s debate in Parliament on Monday.
In reference to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigations into Chinese companies involved in several mega projects here, he said, “The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) under Pakatan Harapan (PH) is free to take action on any case that they receive information on. I never gave them orders to launch raids on Chinese contractors of the ECRL.
He said the reason why he was not included on the list was that he had to attend the Dewan Negara sessions which start on Aug 20.
“I have to be in the Senate next Monday to manage five Bills that will be tabled by the new Government,” he said, adding that it is crucial that the Bills are passed by the Senate.
Lim was making reference to Bills passed by the Dewan Rakyat last week to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and reintroduce the Sales and Service Tax (SST) this Sept 1.
“If the opposition can promise me they won’t sabotage this, then I’ll go to China,” Lim quipped.