Dr Mahathir defends Lim’s acquittal
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (A-GC) decision to withdraw Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s corruption case.
Dr Mahathir said Lim was targeted by Barisan Nasional when the country was under its rule.
He countered arguments that the former Penang chief minister’s case involving the acquisition of a bungalow was similar to that of former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo.
Suggesting selective persecution, Dr Mahathir said, “Many had done what Lim did, but were not prosecuted.
“They (BN) ‘selected’ Lim to get rid of him. His case is not the same as Khir’s,” he said on the sidelines of the Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry 2018 here yesterday.
He was earlier asked on rumours that Attorney-General Tommy Thomas was resigning and whether it had something to do with how Lim’s case was handled, which was heavily criticised.
Several quarters had lambasted the decision to withdraw the case, saying it should have been allowed to complete its course.
Critics, among others, drew comparisons to the case of Khir, who was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 12 months’ jail by the Shah Alam High Court for abusing his then position to buy two plots of land and a house worth RM6.5 million for only RM3.5 million.
Dr Mahathir acknowledged that there had been criticism.
“There had been criticism, but as you know, the previous government victimised all the opposition (members) then,” he said.
On Sept 3, the Penang High Court granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal to Lim and businesswoman Phang Li Koon over their corruption charges two years ago.
On the same day, when Dr Mahathir was asked to comment on the reaction by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that it was shocked by the court decision, he said he, too, was shocked.
“MACC has a right to be shocked. If it wants to be shocked, it can be shocked. I am also shocked.”
He said he had never, in the past, questioned the court decisions.
“If the court makes a decision which to me is wrong, I do not comment (tegur) on it. This decision is made by the court, so we have to accept it.”
The court granted Lim a full acquittal despite the prosecution seeking for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
The decision was made following an application made by the deputy public prosecutor to the court, based on a representation sent by the defence, to the attorney-general to withdraw the case on July 6.
The A-GC has yet to submit an appeal on the High Court decision and the deadline for it to do so is only a few days away.
Lim, on June 30, 2016, had claimed trial to using his position as Penang chief minister to gain gratification for himself and his wife, Betty Chew Gek Cheng.
He was accused of doing so by approving the application for conversion of agriculture land to a public housing zone in the southwest district to Magnificient Emblem Sdn Bhd.
In the second charge, Lim claimed trial to using his position to obtain for himself a plot of land and a house in Jalan Pinhorn, George Town, 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.
Phang was charged with abetting Lim in obtaining the bungalow at an undervalued cost.