AGC withdraws appeal to cite Guan Eng for contempt

The Attorney-General's Chambers today withdrew its appeal to institute contempt proceedings against former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

Senior federal counsel Maisarah Jauhari told a three-member Court of Appeal bench that they filed a notice of discontinuance yesterday and served it on Lim's lawyers.

"We asked there is no order made as to costs," said Maisarah.

This was confirmed by Lim's lawyer Mervyn Lai.

Following this, Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli who led the bench record the withdrawal of the appeal.

"Appeal is struck out with no order as to costs," he said.

The other judges were Justice Zaleha Yusof and Yaacob Md Sam.

It was previously reported that attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had wanted to cite Lim for contempt following his comments over the bungalow case, where Lim, who is now the Finance Minister, was charged with graft.

However, leave was not granted by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Kamaludin Md Said last Dec 6, on the ground that there was no proper disclosure on the transcript of Lim's press conference.

This was based on the two-page transcript of the press conference held last year, that was presented by the attorney-general, and which was obtained from an edited version of a video clip from The Star Online, as opposed to an 11-page transcript from the defence.

"I agree with the defendant that the AG had failed to make full disclosure to gain leave to initiate the contempt proceeding (before another judge).

"Hence, the court allows the defendant's application to set aside the contempt application," Justice Kamaludin had said in his decision. -Mkini