Prosecution to amend two charges against Guan Eng

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution will apply to amend two of the four corruption charges against former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng involving the Penang undersea tunnel project when the case comes up for mention on December 21.

Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, who is leading the prosecution team, when contacted yesterday, said the case had been fixed for mention yesterday, but it had to be postponed following enforcement of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) since November 9 until December 6.

“We were informed of the new mention date by the court through an email last Nov 9,” he added.

It is learnt that the amendments to be made to the charges would include to insert the time and to remove words that are not elements in the charge.

Last August 7, Lim, 60, was charged in his capacity as the Chief Minister of Penang, to have corruptly solicited gratification to help a company to secure the undersea tunnel project.

He is alleged to have sought 10 per cent of the profit to be made by the company from Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, who is the company owner, nearby Hotel The Gardens, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here in March 2011.

On August 10, Lim was charged in the Butterworth Sessions Court with using his position as the then Chief Minister of Penang to solicit RM3.3 million in gratification for himself as an inducement for helping the company to secure the project, valued at RM6.3 billion.

On September 11, the Bagan Member of Parliament was charged in the same court with two counts of causing two plots of land belonging to the Penang government worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to two companies, which are linked to the state's undersea tunnel project.,

The offences were allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office, Level 21, KOMTAR, on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017.