Judge allows prosecutors to impeach Kadir Sheikh Fadzir

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The High Court here allowed impeachment proceedings against former minister Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir today after finding a contradiction between his testimony in court today and his earlier sworn testimony to the police.

Judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi ruled that Kadir’s testimony yesterday and today that the Cabinet did not have to approve any revisions in the final approved price for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land purchase deal had contradicted his statement made to Supt R. Rajagopal on July 6, 2011.

Kadir’s testimony in court was found to have contradicted his statement to the police. — File picture

“After reviewing the statements given in this court by the witness and comparing it with his statement made to the police under section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code, I find that the contradiction is material.

“The prosecution may proceed to impeach the witness,” Ahmadi said.

During submissions, defence lawyer Wong Kian Kheong asked the judge to allow them to look over the entire sworn statement made to police instead of just the offending statement.

“We ask the court to grant us access to the full statement from the police so that we can review the questions and the context of his statement to the police for justice,” Wong said in court.

This was objected to by DPP Datuk Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, who said there was no precedence for such a request.

“We object to the request as it has always been that the accused and the defence are only shown the offending statement and not the full statement,” he said.

Ahmadi then ruled that he would hear arguments on the matter on Monday.

Tun Majid also gave notice that he will be objecting to the defence calling Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to testify.

Meanwhile, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik told reporters that he would be issuing subpoenas to all three prime ministers — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib — to testify in the PKFZ land trial.

“They are accusing me of lying to the government, so I want all three of them to give their views on this,” he said after the court adjourned today.

Dr Ling, who served as transport minister for 17 years from January 1986 to May 2003, is charged with deceiving the Cabinet into approving the purchase of 999.5 acres of land for the PKFZ project, which had resulted in wrongful losses for the government.

The project, initially estimated at RM1.1 billion after it was mooted by Dr Ling in 1997, more than quadrupled in cost to RM4.6 billion by 2007.

A position review by top accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed in 2009 that the total cost, including interests from debt repayments, could reach RM12.5 billion.

Since December 2009, six individuals have been charged in court including ex-MCA president Dr Ling, and his successor as transport minister, former MCA deputy chief Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy. Both are accused of lying to the Cabinet.

Dr Ling also faces two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet into believing that the terms of the purchase — at RM25 psf plus 7.5 per cent interest — were acknowledged and agreed to by the JPPH despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

He faces a possible jail term of up to seven years, or a fine, or both, if convicted on the first charge under section 418 of the Penal Code.
The alternative charges carry a lighter sentence of five years’ jail, or a fine, or both.

The trial continues on Monday at 9am with former prime minister Dr Mahathir scheduled to testify for the defence at 3pm.