KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Damansara MP Tony Pua alleged that the extended Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission questioning of Lim Guan Eng was meant to create a perception the former finance minister was corrupt.

He suggested the investigation into the Penang government’s proposed undersea tunnel was baseless and that the investigation was a charade.

Pua, who was an aide to Lim when the latter was the finance minister, also insisted that the case was being reopened expressly for this purpose and asserted that it had been closed in 2018 as there had been no evidence of wrongdoing.

"The joke is that all who have been questioned were left somewhat bewildered. 

"They were all asked to spend many hours confirming the state government minutes which documented (properly) the process of tendering and awarding the undersea tunnel contract. 

"However, no question, not even to Lim, was asked, or implied of any improper funds, bribes, gratification being given to the ‘suspect’,” Pua said in the statement.

"How do you investigate a so-called ‘corruption’ or ‘money-laundering’ case when there’s not even an iota of evidence, however weak, which points to an exchange or transfer of funds?” Pua said in a statement today.

Lim was questioned at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya across three days last week, believed to be over the undersea tunnel project.