FEBRUARY 15, KUALA LUMPUR — Today, the Sessions Court trial of Lim Guan Eng for the Penang undersea tunnel project was postponed so that the defence may obtain documents from a different court case that may clear the former chief minister of taking RM2 million in bribes.
Gobind Singh Deo, Lim’s attorney, informed the court that the defence had submitted a still-pending motion on February 9 to obtain the notes of proceedings from a different Sessions Court in Shah Alam, Selangor.
According to him, the defense’s preparation for today’s hearing, which is focused on introducing additional evidence from a different trial in the ongoing hearing, required the notes of events.
He continued by informing the court that although the defence had first obtained a copy of the Court Recording and Transcription (CRT) of witness testimony from the Shah Alam case and had transcribed their own, the prosecution had later challenged this.
He said, “I have to ask for this matter to be delayed for the defence to acquire the note of proceedings if my learned friend is objecting on technical grounds.
A transcript report of the entire WhatsApp conversation between two prosecution witnesses, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli and G. Gnanaraja, is among the evidence the defence is requesting to present in the Penang undersea tunnel trial.
Gnanaraja was accused of duping Zarul Ahmad in Shah Alam out of RM19 million—of which the RM2 million is a part—by making him think that he could assist in ending the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) inquiry into the same underwater project.
Thereafter, Gnanaraja entered a plea of guilty to the alternative charge brought out by the Companies Act, and an RM230,000 punishment was issued.
Gobind had already testified in court that a WhatsApp exchange between businessman Gnanaraja and Zarul Ahmad on August 17, 2017, indicated unequivocally how “chocolates” (RM2 million in cash bribes) were to be handed to one “big boss,” who the lawyer claimed was not Lim as claimed.
The prosecution had previously been accused of submitting a report of WhatsApp chats as evidence that was incomplete and only included texts as of August 18, 2017, according to the defence.
Gobind reaffirmed the defense’s position today, asserting that the prosecution had “abused its power by suppressing evidence,” and he again emphasised the need for the other court’s sessions notes as proof.
The prosecution has no objections, according to deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, to the hearing being postponed so that further affidavits can be filed.
Judge Azura Alwi of the Session Court set March 1 as the deadline for parties to update the court after hearing submissions.
A updated accusation against Lim, 61, alleges that he accepted RM3.3 million in bribes in exchange for helping Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) owner Zarul Ahmad acquire the project valued RM6,341,383,702.
In the second amended accusation, Lim is accused of asking the corporation for a bribe in the amount of 10% of the profit in exchange for the project.
The former DAP secretary-general Lim was charged with two additional counts of causing the sale of two government-owned land plots in Penang worth RM208.8 million to two businesses involved in the state’s undersea tunnel project.
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Source: Malay Mail
