KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) women’s wing today exhorted government agencies to act transparently and impartially in the prosecution of Lim Guan Eng and his wife Betty Chew.

PKR, DAP, Amanah women leaders accused the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government of using public institutions as "tools” to level trumped up corruption charges against the duo for its own political agenda.

"We Wanita Pakatan Harapan urge that the case of Betty Chew be handled in a transparent and fair manner, we also strongly warn government agencies to be professional in accordance with the law without fear and partiality, and more importantly not to be a tool for political masters just to drown voices against corrupt practices and abuse of power,”  Fuziah Salleh, Aiman Athirah and Chong Eng, the heads of PKR, Amanah and DAP women wings respectively, said in a joint statement expressing solidarity with Chew and her mother Neo Yoke Tee.

They decried the money laundering charges against Chew as expansion tactics by the ruling PN to tarnish the reputation of DAP secretary-general Lim.

Former finance minister Lim was hit with his third corruption charge in five days yesterday while Chew was charged with three counts of money laundering.

Lim, 60, has been charged with abusing his public office for personal gratification when he was Penang chief minister and Penang Development Corporation chairman between August 19, 2013 and March 3, 2016 in connection with a public project for the construction of foreign workers dormitories in Juru and Batu Kawan worth RM 11.61 million.

He also faces two other charges regarding the RM6.3 billion Penang Undersea Tunnel project.

Chew, 56, is accused of receiving RM87,009 in illegal revenue from Excel Property Management and Consultancy into her bank account between October 7, 2013 and August 4, 2014.

She faces two more charges of receiving a total of RM285,000 in illegal revenue from the same company, of which RM 180,000 was allegedly received between September 3, 2014, and August 11, 2015, and RM 105,000 between September 4, 2015 and March 3, 2016.

Businesswoman Phang Li Koon, 48, director of Excel Property Management and Consultancy, was also charged with abetting Lim in gaining RM372,009 for his wife.

Phang was charged under Section 28(1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision Act 2009.