The DAP secretary-general and former Penang chief minister said he did not receive any official information from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) about the new charges until today.

The two new charges under Section 403 of Penal Code are believed to be in connection with the Penang undersea tunnel project.

“I only read about it through news reports last week. And when the news came out, I was campaigning in the interior parts of Sabah,” he told reporters after attending his corruption case at the Sessions Court here this morning.

Lim claimed it was a political move by the anti-graft agency to leak the information to the media.

“We don’t know if the leak was deliberately done or otherwise. It was unprofessional and unfair of MACC,” he said.

Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the Sessions Court earlier that the two additional charges will be filed against Lim at the Butterworth Sessions Court on Friday.

The prosecution also served the court summons to Lim today.

Lim reiterated his innocence and said he will fight the corruption charges in court.

Asked whether he will still go to Sabah, he said the court appearance will affect his preparation and campaign itinerary.

“Maybe I will go on a later date,” he said.

Lim had been slapped with two corruption charges last month.

On the first charge, he is accused of soliciting a 10% cut from the profits which would have been made from the roads and tunnel project from Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (Zenith) senior director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli in March 2011.

He is also accused of abusing his position as then Penang chief minister to obtain RM3.3 million in bribes to appoint Zarul’s company for the project.

The offence is alleged to have been committed in his Komtar office between January 2011 and August 2017.