After days of a verbal war with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, MCA minister Wee Ka Siong now says it is pointless to continue arguing.

The dispute, which went on for two weeks, was on whether Lim had said that Chinese firm, China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), was a shareholder in the Penang undersea tunnel project's special purpose vehicle (SPV).

Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd is the SPV, which was awarded the project in 2013 via an open tender process.

Wee said that despite the "abundance of documented proof" that he had shown, Lim refused to admit he had lied.

Wee's "solid proof", in the form of the state's March 2013 issue of Buletin Mutiara, was dismissed by Lim, who said CRCC was in a joint venture with Zenith and not a shareholder. It remains the SPV's main contractor.

"Shockingly, the latest excuse from him in his statement yesterday was that whatever he had said about CRCC prior to the contract signing in October 2013 was not important and there was no more need to explain the contradiction," Wee said in a statement today.

"Once you start coming up with twisted and shameless excuses like these, there is no more point in arguing," added the minister in the Prime Minister's Department, who is also MCA deputy president.

However, Wee insisted that the Penang government has essentially awarded an RM6.34 billion project to an 82-day-old company with a paid-up capital of only RM300,000 at the time.

The 7.2km tunnel, which is to link the island with Butterworth, is supposed to begin construction in 2023, and be completed in 2027 but Lim has said that it may be delayed due to MCA's "interference and sabotage".

'Penang people have a right to know'

Wee continued to insist that the people of Penang have a right to know if the SPV fulfilled the RM381 million minimum paid-up capital to have qualified for the tender.

Lim has persistently said the tender committee was headed by state secretary Farizan Darus with neither the chief minister nor any state executive councillor sitting on its board.

Wee urged Lim not to hide behind the Penang state secretary and to come clean on the matter.

"Just answer the questions and explain how the SPV fulfils the RM381million paid-up capital requirement," he insisted.

Wee reminded Lim of his earlier challenge to instruct the SPV to provide documented proof of how much payment has been made to CRCC since the signing of the contract in October 2013.

"What was CRCC's exact role in the project over these past five years?" he asked.

Wee said Lim must answer these questions to prove that CRCC was still the master contractor.

The project is subject of a major investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission with more than 70 individuals queried and four high-ranking officials related to the tunnel project detained to assist in the investigations.