Dr M defends Guan Eng's acquittal, calls him BN victim

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended the Penang High Court's decision to acquit Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the alleged conversion of land status and purchase of a bungalow below market value.

Acknowledging the criticism over the decision, Mahathir suggested that Lim, the former Penang chief minister, was a victim of the previous BN administration.

“There has been criticism, but as you know, the previous government victimised the opposition (at the time).

“There are many people who have done what Lim has done, but they were not selected (for prosecution).

“They selected Lim for a special purpose, to get rid of him,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre this afternoon.

Mahathir also said Lim's case was not the same as former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo's (photo) corruption case in 2015.

Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad had earlier drew a comparison between both cases.

Following Lim's acquittal on Sept 3 and MACC subsequently expressing its shock over the matter, Mahathir said he too was “shocked” by the court's decision.

“They (MACC) have a right to be shocked. If they want to be shocked, they can be shocked. I am also shocked,” he said when asked to comment on the graft-buster's reaction.

The Penang High Court judge granted Lim a full acquittal on Sept 3, despite the prosecution seeking for a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA).

Back in 2015, Khir was sentenced to 12 months in prison after the Federal Court upheld his 2015 conviction for receiving two plots of land in Shah Alam valued at RM3.5 million for himself and his wife.

Noraini, in comparing that case with Lim’s, questioned why Khir's case was heard in full, which later resulted in the former Umno leader being convicted, while Lim's case was dropped by the prosecution even before all the evidence was found and heard in court.

Previously the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Hanipa Maidin, who is in charge of law affairs, had also described Lim’s and Khir’s cases as being “poles apart”.

-Mkini