Former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik, who is facing charges of cheating the Malaysian government in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project, closed his defence case today with the seventh and final witness.   

Ling, 70, was ordered to enter his defence on March 9 last year and called to the stand nine witnesses including himself and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Judge Ahmadi Asnawi set submissions for July 22.      

azlan Transport minister for 17 years from 1986, Ling is charged with cheating the government by not disclosing to the Cabinet, an additional interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum on the purchase price of the land for the PKFZ project, knowing that it had been fixed at RM1,088,456,000 by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), based on RM25 psf, inclusive of the coupon/interest rates.

He also faces two alternative (amended) charges of cheating and intentionally not disclosing to the Cabinet that the 7.5 percent per annum was an additional interest rate on the land price.  

He was alleged to have committed the offences at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office, Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.

Earlier in today’s proceedings, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) chief operating officer Faizal Abdullah told the court that Ling did not have any interest or shares in the company and neither was he ever offered any gratification for the PKFZ project.      

Faizal, who was KDSB’s deputy chief operating officer at the time of the project, said throughout the Pulau Indah land transaction he only dealt with the Transport Ministry’s former secretary-general Zaharah Shaari, former deputy secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor and former assistant secretary-general of the Maritime Division P Chandrasekaran.  

Questioned by Ling’s lawyer Wong Kian Kheong as to whether he had ever met his client at the time, Faizal said, “I don’t remember.”

Ling was charged on July 29 2010 and the trial commenced on Aug 1, 2011 with a line up of 25 prosecution witnesses who included former officials of the Transport Ministry and cabinet ministers.

The prosecution team was led by deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

- Bernama

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