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Thursday, November 2, 2023

Undersea tunnel case: Court allows impeachment move against witness

 


The Sessions Court today allowed the defence in the undersea tunnel corruption case involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng to commence impeachment proceedings against the key prosecution witness.

Judge Azura Alwi allowed the application to ascertain if there were discrepancies between the statement of the 23rd prosecution witness, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, recorded by the MACC for the case involving businessperson G. Gnanaraja’s in the Shah Alam Court and his testimony in the Sessions Court.

Azura also ordered for the court to be furnished with copies of Zarul’s (above) recorded statements for scrutiny before it is presented to the defence.

“If there are discrepancies, then copies of the statements will be handed over to the defence to commence impeachment proceedings to challenge the credibility of SP23 (Zarul),” she said.

Case mention was set for Nov 17 for both parties to update the court on the submission of the copies and decide on whether to allow the continuation of the impeachment proceedings.

Earlier in the proceedings, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said the prosecution would furnish copies of the statements within two weeks.

Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng

Lim’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo submitted, however, that the copies should be furnished to the defence first to point out the alleged conflicting statements to the court.

Today's proceedings were also attended by DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib and Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, and lawyer Haijan Omar representing Lim.

Lim is facing four corruption charges involving the proposed construction of an undersea tunnel and paired roads project in Penang.

On the first charge, Lim is alleged to have abused his power as then-Penang chief minister to obtain RM3.3 million in monetary gratification as an inducement to appoint Zarul's company to implement the RM6,341,383,702 undersea tunnel project and construction of main roads in the state.

He is alleged to have committed the offence between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office.

On the second amended charge, Lim is accused of asking Zarul for 10 percent of profits as a reward for helping his company secure the said projects.

Lim is alleged to have committed the offence at The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here, between 12.30am and 2am in March 2011.

He is also facing two other charges for dishonestly disposing of two plots of land belonging to the Penang government in Bandar Tanjong Pinang worth RM208 million to the developer of the undersea tunnel project, which was allegedly committed at the State Land and Mines Office in Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017.

Bernama

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