Prosecution seeks to drop the word ‘received’ from Lim Guan Eng’s undersea tunnel corruption charge

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — The prosecution has applied to amend the first charge against former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng in the RM6.3 billion major roads and undersea tunnel corruption case.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin informed Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi that the amendment involves dropping the word “received” from the charge.

“The law under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 does not specify whether a person receives or solicits a gratification; it merely requires that the gratification be for a purpose. The amount of RM3.3 million remains in the charge,” he said.

Lim’s lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh, objected to the application and stressed that the element of receipt is essential to the charge.

“If the word is removed without any explanation, and at such a late stage, six years later, it will prejudice the defence. That is why we need time to prepare our arguments,” he submitted.

Judge Azura then set tomorrow for both parties to present their arguments on the matter.

The trial then continued with the defence cross-examining the 37th prosecution witness, businessman Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja, 44.

Under the first charge, Lim, 65, is accused of abusing his position as Penang chief minister to receive RM3.3 million in return for helping a company owned by businessman Zarul Ahmad secure the Penang Major Roads and Tunnel Construction Project, valued at approximately RM6.34 billion.

The alleged offence took place at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office between January 2011 and August 2017.

The second charge states that the Bagan MP solicited a 10 per cent cut out of the project’s future profits from Zarul Ahmad for assisting his company in securing the same project.

The alleged offence occurred near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur, between 12.30 am and 2.00 am in March 2011.

Additionally, Lim faces two charges of disposing of a couple of state-owned lots of land in Penang, valued at RM208.8 million, to a developer linked to the undersea tunnel project.

These offences were allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office, Komtar, on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017. — Bernama