DPP says indictments against Guan Eng today 'mother of all charges'
The prosecution for former finance minister Lim Guan Eng's alleged corruption case today has described the indictments as "the mother of all charges".
Lead DPP Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin made the comment when met by reporters outside the courtroom...
The prosecution for former finance minister Lim Guan Eng's alleged corruption case today has described the indictments as "the mother of all charges".
Lead DPP Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin made the comment when met by reporters outside the courtroom.
"Our policy in the Attorney-General's Chambers and MACC is that we only prosecute a case when we have a 99 percent chance of winning. The other one percent is an act of God, (so) we cannot say (we have) 100 percent chance of winning," he said. "But for the 99 percent we prosecute, we have a chance of winning."
Lim was charged at the Butterworth Sessions Court this morning for "wrongfully misappropriating" two plots of land worth RM135 million and RM73 million to two developers, Ewein Zenith in 2015 and Zenith Urban Development in 2017.
The charges were read before judge Ahmad Azhari Abdul Hamid.
The former Penang chief minister pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Wan Shaharuddin said today's charges were related to the first and second charges which Lim faced in Butterworth and Kuala Lumpur last month, related to the controversial Penang undersea tunnel project.
The latest charges will be the last related to the mega infrastructure project which would link the island to Butterworth on the mainland once completed.
Of the charges, the DPP further said: "We got the body, now the tail".
Ten witnesses from Kuala Lumpur are expected to be called.
The judge has agreed to the prosecution's request to transfer the case to Kuala Lumpur.
Lim is represented by lawyers Gobind Singh Deo, Ramkarpal Singh, RSN Rayer, and Sivanesan Achalingam.
Other than Wan Shaharuddin, the prosecution team consists of Francine Cheryl Rajendram and Selvaranjini Selvaraj.
Meanwhile, Lim said in a statement today the two additional charges against him were "baseless, politically motivated, and an abuse of power by the unelected government".
He added that the charges were intended to "smear and tarnish my reputation" in the run-up to the elections, whether in Sabah or nationally.
The Bagan MP reiterated that the tunnel and three-lane highway project awarded by the Penang government in 2013 to Consortium Zenith Beijing Urban Construction Group was a contract given via open tender from the State Tender Committee. The committee was headed by the Penang state secretary and had senior government officers as members.
"Even though I am not a member of the State Tender Committee, I am still charged in line with the current thinking of 'semua salah Lim Guan Eng' (it is all Lim Guan Eng's fault)," he quipped.
In a later development, lawyer Gobind asked Wan Shaharuddin not to be "delusional".
"If you only prefer charges in cases where you were 99 percent sure of convictions, then why don't you see 99 percent convictions in all criminal prosecutions?" Gobind asked.
His statement was earlier posted on his personal Facebook page.
"This is because in many cases, the evidence produced just isn't enough to secure a conviction," added the Puchong MP.
Gobind insisted that the prosecution has no case against Lim.
He said the defence team will show in court that Lim is innocent of all the charges against him.
"We will show exactly what sort of prosecution this is. We will for now exercise restraint and not go deeper into the facts of the case here as the court has advised us not to do that," he said.
"But rest assured, we will take the prosecution on right to the hilt in this case," he added.
Gobind said the defence team will move the court for orders to deal with Wan Shaharuddin next week.
"We are of the view that what he has done is clearly subjudice. So bring it on.
"Let this be the mother of all charges then. Let's see what happens," Gobind added.
Editor's note: Based on legal advice, the commenting feature for the above article has been disabled.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.