KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here today allowed part of the statement of the main witness in the Lim Guan Eng (pix) corruption trial involving the Penang undersea tunnel to be handed over to the defence for proceedings to challenge the credibility of the witness.
The document is a copy of the witness statement of former Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli for use by the defence.
It is to determine whether there is a contradiction between Zarul Ahmad’s statement recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in the case of businessman G Gnanaraja in the Shah Alam Court and his statement in the Sessions Court here.
In today’s proceedings, Judge Azura Alwi said the court was satisfied and decided that 31 of the 108 pages of Zarul Ahmad’s witness statement that were relevant to the case were allowed to be handed over to the defence to start proceedings challenging Zarul Ahmad’s credibility.
“The relevant statements involve pages five to 14, 23 to 27, 52 to 53, 69 to 72 and 99 to 108,“ said the judge during case mention.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin requested a two-week period to submit the relevant documents to the defence.
The court then ordered the documents to be submitted before Jan 17, before the proceedings to challenge the credibility of the witness take place on Feb 26 and 27.
Meanwhile, lawyer RSN Rayer informed the court of a new development that fellow counsel Gobind Singh Deo would no longer represent the accused, following Gobind’s inclusion in the Cabinet.
“We need time to examine and prepare for the proceedings to challenge credibility,“ he said.
In previous proceedings, Azura directed that a copy of Zarul Ahmad’s recorded conversation submitted to the court be examined and read before being presented to the defense.
According to the first amended charge, Lim, 60, is alleged of using his position as chief minister of Penang at the time to receive bribes amounting to RM3.3 million, by helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad to be appointed to implement a highway and undersea tunnel project in Penang worth RM6,341,383,702.
Lim is alleged to have committed the act between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office.
For the second amended charge, Lim is alleged to have sought a bribe of 10 per cent of the profits from Zarul Ahmad as an inducement to help the businessman’s company be appointed for the same project.
Lim allegedly committed the act near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, between 12.30 am and 2 am, in March 2011.
He is also facing two charges of causing two lots of land owned by the Penang government worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to companies allegedly linked to the undersea tunnel project in the state. The offence was allegedly committed at the Penang State Land and Mines Office, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017. –Bernama