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KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Guan Eng today questioned the timing of the two imminent corruption charges to be brought against him in Butterworth, Penang, on Friday, one day before the nominations for the Sabah elections.
The DAP secretary general and former Penang chief minister said he did not receive any official information from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the new charges until today.
The two new charges under Section 403 of the Penal Code are believed to be related to the Penang underwater tunnel project.
“I only read it through news reports last week. And when the news came out, he was campaigning in the inner parts of Sabah, ”he told reporters after attending his corruption case in the Court of Sessions here this morning.
Lim claimed that it was a political move by the anti-bribery agency to leak the information to the media.
“We don’t know if the leak was made deliberately or not. MACC was unprofessional and unfair, ”he said.
Assistant District Attorney Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the Session Court earlier that the two additional charges will be brought against Lim in Butterworth Session Court on Friday.
The prosecution also served Lim the subpoena today.
Lim reiterated his innocence and said he will fight corruption charges in court.
When asked if he will still go to Sabah, he said the court appearance will affect his preparation and the campaign schedule.
“Maybe I’ll go on a later date,” he said.
Lim had been charged with two counts of corruption last month.
In the first charge, Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, senior director of the Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd Consortium (Zenith), Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, is accused of requesting a 10% cut of the profits that would have been obtained from the roads and tunnels project in March 2011 .
He is also accused of abusing his position as then Penang’s chief minister to obtain RM3.3 million in bribes to appoint Zarul’s company to the project.
The crime is presumed to have been committed in his Komtar office between January 2011 and August 2017.
