Guan Eng allowed to begin impeachment proceedings against key witness
The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court gave the green light for former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng to commence impeachment proceedings against a star prosecution witness.
Trial judge Azura Alwi this afternoon allowed the accused to proceed with a challenge over 31 pages out of a total 108-page statement to the MACC by Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli...
The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court gave the green light for former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng to commence impeachment proceedings against a star prosecution witness.
Trial judge Azura Alwi this afternoon allowed the accused to proceed with a challenge over 31 pages out of a total 108-page statement to the MACC by Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli.
Zarul is a key prosecution witness in the ongoing corruption trial against the former finance minister linked to the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project.
Lim’s defence team had sought access to the MACC statement to commence impeachment proceedings to disrepute Zarul’s credibility.
Azura today allowed Lim's defence team, led by lawyer RSN Rayer, to commence impeachment over the 31 pages of Zarul's MACC statement.
After the ruling, deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said they needed two weeks before they could hand over Zarul's MACC statement to Lim's lawyers, as prosecutors need to redact the pages that are not part of the ruling.
Azura then directed the prosecution to hand the statement to Lim’s defence team within two weeks from today and set Jan 17 for further mention of the case.
It has been a long-running contention of Lim's legal team that Zarul lied in the witness' testimony against the accused.
The defence team claimed this was because Zarul gave contradictory testimony in a separate criminal case in Shah Alam.
The alleged discrepancy is over whether an RM2 million 'chocolate' bribe was meant for Lim or former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
The charges
Lim is on trial over four corruption charges involving the planned construction of Penang’s undersea tunnel and paired roads project connecting the island to the mainland.
For the first charge, Lim is accused of having 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 project.
He allegedly committed the offence between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office.
On the second charge, Lim is alleged to have asked Zarul for 10 percent of profits as a reward for helping his company secure the said project.
Lim is purported to have committed the offence at The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, in Kuala Lumpur, between 12.30am and 2am in March 2011.
He also faces two counts of dishonest disposing of two plots of land belonging to the Penang government in Bandar Tanjong Pinang worth RM208 million to the developer of the tunnel project, which allegedly took place at the State Land and Mines Office in Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017.
