KUALA LUMPUR: Former Transport Minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik will know on March 9 whether he will be acquitted or ordered to enter defence over charges of cheating the Government in relation to the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

DPP Manoj Kurup said Friday the judge told the relevant parties that he needed time to give the full grounds of judgment.

The court was scheduled to have announced its decision today.

Dr Ling talking to reporters after the court proceeding

Dr Ling, 69, who was the transport minister for 17 years from 1986, is charged with cheating the government by not disclosing to the Cabinet an additional interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum on the purchase price of the land for the PKFZ project, which had been fixed at RM1,088,456,000 by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), based on RM25 per sq ft, inclusive of the coupon/interest rate.

He also faces two alternative (amended) charges, of cheating and intentionally not disclosing to the Cabinet that the 7.5 percent per annum was an additional interest rate on the land price.

Dr Ling, represented by counsel Wong Khian Keong, is charged with committing the offences at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister's Office, Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.

The first charge, under Section 418 of the Penal Code, carries a penalty of up to seven years jail, or a fine, or both, upon conviction while the two alternative (amended) charges, under Section 417 of the Penal Code, carry a penalty of up to five years jail, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.

The prosecution, led by DPP Datuk Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, had adduced the testimony of 25 witnesses, among them Cabinet ministers and senior officers of the JPPH.

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