Day in court: Lim (right) arriving at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: The deputy public prosecutor of an ongoing corruption trial involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has questioned the relevance of a police report submitted by the defence in the Sessions Court.
Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said the police report, which was lodged by Lim against a key prosecution witness in the Penang undersea tunnel project trial, could unfairly implicate his witness and interfere with court proceedings.
He said an ongoing trial and impeachment proceeding should not involve the police.
“This could be considered subjudice since the case is already before the court,” he said here yesterday.
Earlier, Lim’s lead counsel Haijan Omar informed the court that his client lodged the report against Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd’s executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli at the Sentul district police headquarters on Aug 23.
Lim’s report, Haijan said, addresses conflicting statements made by Zarul Ahmad during the trial, following a separate report by an individual named Chan Eng Leong on June 19.
Haijan explained that Chan alleged he was told by certain parties to cooperate and provide false testimony against Lim to avoid trouble.
“My client believes Zarul Ahmad’s conflicting statements and the report indicate an attempt to frame him,” Haijan said, adding that he would submit a copy of Lim’s police report to the court.
Wan Shaharuddin, who reviewed Lim’s report, noted that Chan claimed to have been threatened by unknown individuals while in the courthouse lockup.
This led Lim to suspect that there were efforts to falsely accuse him.
In response, Haijan asserted that it was Lim’s right to inform the court, emphasising the connection he sees between the cases.
Judge Azura Alwi acknowledged the report and noted that it would not affect the trial as it was subject to police investigation.
The judge added that she has no intention to see its content for now.
Zarul Ahmad later told the court that he had been advised by his lawyers to file a report to state his innocence.
Azura confirmed it was his right to do so.
When examined by Wan Shaharuddin during the impeachment proceeding into his conflicting statements with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for this trial and in a previous cheating case in Shah Alam involving businessman G. Gnanaraja, Zarul Ahmad said he had no personal interest in giving a statement against Lim.
Zarul Ahmad said he had only assisted the MACC in its investigation and he held no grudge against Lim.
He indicated that he felt “indebted” to Lim and left the acceptance of his statement to the court.
When asked about rectifying his earlier statement regarding payments to Gnanaraja, Zarul Ahmad said he “did not care” if the former would be charged in court.
“I don’t want Gnanaraja or Lim Guan Eng to be charged on the wrong statement. I don’t care if they were charged but I want to make the right statement,” he said.
Previously, Zarul Ahmad revealed he paid Gnanaraja another RM2mil to get close to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He had previously testified that he gave Lim RM2mil in cash through Gnanaraja in two separate bags.
Lim, 63, is facing an amended charge of using his position as then Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3mil in bribes as an inducement to assist Zarul Ahmad in securing the undersea tunnel project worth RM6.34bil.
Lim allegedly committed the offence at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office, Level 28, Komtar, George Town, between January 2011 and August 2017.
In the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a 10% profit from the company as gratification to secure the project.
The offence was allegedly committed near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here, in March 2011.
Lim, who is DAP chairman and Bagan MP, faces two further charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8mil, belonging to the Penang government, to be disposed of to two companies linked to the project.
The trial resumes today.
