Dr Ling a free man because Dr Mahathir did not feel cheated

Putrajaya  had no chance to overturn Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s cheating conviction as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) gave evidence that he was not cheated, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail revealed today.

He said further, Dr Ling's acquittal at the High Court was made based on the finding of facts.

"It was going to be difficult to set aside the conviction if we had appealed because the main witness felt he was not cheated. Dr Ling was freed based on the finding of facts and not the law," Abdul Gani told reporters at his office breaking his silence on why he did not appeal the case.

Gani said the prosecution was transparent in conducting the case and gave all it had.

High Court judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi on October 25, freed the 70-year-old former transport minister, saying it was Dr Mahathir's evidence which secured the acquittal.

However, former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman and veteran lawyer Karpal Singh felt that Dr Ling should not have been charged in the first place and that the four-year court battle which followed was a charade by Putrajaya to portray it was serious in getting a "big fish".

They questioned why Dr Mahathir's statement was not recorded before Dr Ling was charged with allegedly cheating the Cabinet over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land project in 2010.

"If Dr Mahathir's statement was recorded earlier, then the Attorney General would have had to think twice whether to frame charges against Dr Ling," Abu Talib had said.

Police only recorded two statements from Dr Ling's former boss in 2011 and early last year as the trial was progressing.

Abu Talib pointed out that at the time Dr Ling was alleged to have committed the offence, Dr Mahathir was Cabinet chairman.

"It was the Cabinet that Dr Ling was alleged to have cheated. So it is natural that police record Dr Mahathir's statement to determine whether to frame the charge."

During the trial, Dr Mahathir was lined up as prosecution witness, but was not called to testify.

He was later offered to the defence when Dr Ling was asked to answer the charges. Dr Mahathir testified that he did not feel cheated by Dr Ling nor had other Cabinet members complained about the former transport minister.

Dr Ling had then made a representation to Gani to drop the charges, but the appeal was rejected.

The longest serving transport minister from 1986 to 2003 was alleged to have deceived the Cabinet by hiding the fact that there was an additional interest rate of 7.5% to the purchase price of RM25 per square foot in the deal, despite knowing that the interest rate was included in the price.

He had then allegedly induced the Cabinet to approve the land purchase, which caused losses to the government.

Dr Ling also faced two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet that the terms of the purchase of the 999.5 acres of land, at RM25 psf plus 7.5% interest, were acknowledged and agreed to by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

Police started probing the PKFZ land deal in early 2009 after then Port Klang Authority chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng lodged a report following a financial audit of the project.

The PKFZ 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.