SEPT 3 FIXED FOR A-GC TO DECIDE ON LIM’S CASE
There must be an end to case involving finance minister, says High Court judge
THE High Court here has fixed Sept 3 for the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) to decide on whether to proceed with the corruption case against Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and businesswoman Phang Li Koon.
Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who heard the case yesterday, fixed the new date following a request by deputy public prosecutor Abdul Rashid Daud.
The decision was made after Lim and Phang had both, on July 6, made a representation to Attorney-General (A-G) Tommy Thomas for the case to be dropped.
“There must be a full stop. The final date is Sept 3. By then, the A-G must give an answer to the representation,” Hadhariah said yesterday.
Counsel Ramkarpal Singh, representing Lim, told the court that the prosecution needed more time to decide on the representation.
“We have filed the representation to the A-G on July 6, and it has been received. They need another month to do so (to decide on the representation).
“As such, I urge the court to fix Sept 3 to hear the case.”
Rashid confirmed receiving the representation.
“We need one more month to decide,” he said.
To this, Phang’s counsel, Datuk V. Sithambaram told the court that he had no objection to the one-month period requested by the prosecution.
Lim, who is finance minister, was not present, but Phang was in court.
The trial, which began on March 26, implicated Lim in charges of abuse of power over the purchase of his RM2.8 million bungalow below market price that occurred during his tenure as Penang chief minister.
The trial, however, was postponed because of the 14th General Election on May 9.
But a subsequent court date on May 21, which was set after the change of government, saw Lim’s and Phang’s lawyers filing representations to the A-GC to drop the charges against their clients.
Lim had claimed trial to two charges on June 30, 2016 — the first of which was for abusing his position as a public officer, namely as Penang chief minister, to gain gratification for himself and his wife, Betty Chew Gek Cheng.
The charge was for approving the application for conversion of agriculture land to a public housing zone in Penang’s southwest district to Magnificient Emblem Sdn Bhd.
Lim was charged with committing the offence while chairing the State Planning Committee meeting at the operations room, Level 28, Komtar, on July 18, 2014.
The offence, under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, carries a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to five times the sum or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Lim claimed trial to a second charge of using his position to obtain a plot of land and a house at No 25, Jalan Pinhorn here from Phang for RM2.8 million, a price which he allegedly knew did not commensurate with the property’s then market value of RM4.27 million.
This offence was allegedly committed on Oct 21, 2015.
The charge, under Section 165 of the Penal Code, provides for a maximum of two years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both.
Phang was charged with abetting Lim in obtaining the bungalow at an undervalued cost.
She was charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 165 of the same law, which provides imprisonment for up to two years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
The New Sunday Times recently quoted legal experts, who highlighted a need for Lim’s court case to continue as it allowed him the best avenue to clear his name.
Groups within legal and enforcement fraternities were concerned about the possibility of the case being dropped.
Their concerns were triggered when the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court acquitted and discharged former Bank Rakyat managing director Datuk Mustafha Abd Razak and the bank’s former chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal, of criminal breach of trust and abetment charges, respectively, involving nearly RM15 million on June 5. The court made the decision after the A-GC withdrew the case, which revolved around the biography of a prominent political figure.