At a press conference in George Town on Saturday, businessman Chan Swee Teik (picture) showed two cheques for RM10,000 each which he said was proof that assemblyman Lau Keng Ee had owed him money.
Last week, Lau, who is the two-term assembly member for Pengkalan Kota, filed police reports to say that he was being harassed by debt collectors and had denied that he ever owed money to Chan.
Police have said that they did not find any element of crime in the case and have advised Chan and Lau to solve their problem.
Chan said on Saturday that he had given friendly personal loans to Lau since 2013 in return for being awarded projects. However, he said, the promised projects were awarded to others.
He now wants Lau to repay him RM150,000. He said Lau had previously repaid RM50,000. Chan showed reporters two cheques for RM10,000 each, dated May 24, 2014, which he said were issued by Lau to him, and said:”These cheques proved that Lau owed me money, not as what he claimed.”
Chan said he had lodged two police reports on Dec 24 and Dec 29 about the matter. He said he demanded Lau to return his money soon, or else he would take legal action.
He said he was a member of Pengkalan Kota DAP branch and the village safety and development committee and had known Lau since 2012. “Previously Lau could meet me daily but now he does not even pick up my calls,” Chan said. He urged senior party leaders like Lim Kit Siang to intervene and resolve the dispute. “I want this issue to be resolved amicably. I just want my money back,” Chan said.
Last week Lau called a press conference after lodging a police report and said he was being harrassed by debt collectors for an alleged debt of RM200,000. He had denied having received the money, the Sun daily reported.
He said a local website, penangheadline.com, had alleged that he had borrowed money from a loan shark and had defaulted on repayment and challenged the page administrator of penangheadline.com to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
“Failing to do so, I will take legal action in court,” he said at the press conference. He was accompanied by his counsel, RSN Rayer, also a DAP member and assemblyman for Seri Delima. Rayer challenged the website to provide proof and said a letter would be written to the Malaysian Multimedia and Communications Commission to find out the operators of the website, the report said.