KUALA LUMPUR: A key prosecution witness in the corruption case involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng will face impeachment proceedings over his inconsistent statements in the case and a trial involving a businessman.
Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi allowed the defence’s application for the proceedings and instructed the prosecution to submit the documents that involve the witness statements of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its investigation into a cheating case in Shah Alam.
“After hearing the submission, the court is satisfied to allow the defence to begin impeachment proceedings against the prosecution witness.
“However, the court also orders for the copy of the witness statements from Shah Alam to be submitted to the court first before it can be presented to the defence,” she said at the Sessions Court here yesterday.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said the prosecution would furnish the documents within two weeks.
Azura then set case management for Nov 17.
The defence had previously sought the witness statements to challenge Zarul Ahmad’s credibility following inconsistencies in the statements made by him in the current trial and in another case involving businessman G. Gnanaraja.
The statements had been produced in a trial in Shah Alam in 2019, where Gnanaraja was charged with cheating Zarul Ahmad of RM19mil as an inducement to help the latter get money laundering charges dropped.
On Oct 24, Zarul Ahmad revealed in Lim’s trial that RM2mil was given to Lim via a cheque regarding the Penang undersea tunnel and road construction project, and another RM2mil in cash given to Gnanaraja for it to be delivered to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to facilitate the closure of MACC’s ongoing investigation into his company.
Lim’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo argued that Zarul Ahmad had previously provided a statement at the Shah Alam Sessions Court that the RM2mil was meant for Najib.
The prosecution then stated that Zarul Ahmad had later “rectified” his statement to the MACC in connection with the Shah Alam case.
Questioning the “rectification”, Gobind said it was for the court to decide whether the statement had been rectified, not the prosecution.
The defence then filed an order to impeach Zarul Ahmad over his credibility.
Lim, 62, is facing an amended charge of using his position as then Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3mil in bribes as an inducement to assist Zarul Ahmad in securing the undersea tunnel project worth RM6,341,383,702.
Lim allegedly committed the offence at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office, Level 28, Komtar, George Town, between January 2011 and August 2017.
In the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe of 10% of the profit from the company as gratification to secure the project.
The offence was allegedly committed near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here in March 2011.
Lim, the former DAP secretary-general, faces two further charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8mil, belonging to the Penang government, to be disposed of to two companies linked to the state’s undersea tunnel project.
