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BUTTERWORTH: Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has been charged with two counts of misappropriation of property worth RM 208.7 million.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said the last two were the latest round of charges against Lim, who is also a former Penang chief minister.
“There are 10 main witnesses, all in Kuala Lumpur,” Wan Shaharuddin said outside the court here yesterday.
Previously, Lim, who seemed calm and collected, pleaded not guilty to two counts of dishonest misappropriation of property in Butterworth Sessions Court here.
Lim is tasked with handing over two properties in the form of land to two companies linked to the controversial underwater tunnel project.
According to the charge sheet, Lim is charged with dishonest misappropriation of property that led to the alienation of state lands located in Bandar Tanjung Pinang in Penang worth RM 135,086,094 to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd on February 17, 2015, at the level 21 in Komtar, as the then chief minister.
He is also charged with dishonest misappropriation of property that led to the disposal of another parcel of state land located in Bandar Tanjung Pinang worth RM 73,668,986 to Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd on March 22, 2017, at the same location.
Both charges are under Section 403 of the Penal Code, which states that anyone who dishonestly misappropriates or converts it for their own use, or causes another person to dispose of any property, will be imprisoned for six months or up to five years, flogged and fined, if convicted.
Lim appeared before Judge Ahmad Azhari Abdul Hamid of the Corruption Special Sessions Court and was represented by attorneys Gobind Singh Deo, RSN Rayer, Ramkarpal Singh and A. Sivanesan.
The prosecution team led by Wan Shaharuddin was supported by Assistant Prosecutors Francine Cheryl Rajendram and S. Selvaranjini of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
In court, Wan Shaharuddin requested that the charges be transferred to Putrajaya to be heard with Lim’s other cases. He cited the security of documents that will be presented as evidence in court.
“The documents are in Putrajaya and it will be a matter of logistics and security to transport them back and forth. The main witnesses in the case are also from Kuala Lumpur.
“I do not deny that there are witnesses from Penang but the main ones are in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Gobind objected to the proposal to transfer the case because the land is located in Penang and the alleged crimes had taken place in Penang.
Judge Ahmad Azhari allowed the transfer of the case to be heard on October 12 with Lim requesting charges.
The court then allowed his RM1 thousand bond paid for the three previous charges to be extended to the two additional charges.
Last month, Lim was slapped with multiple charges over the span of a week.
He was charged under Section 16 (a) (A) of the MACC Act on August 7 with requesting a 10% cut in profits from the Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd Consortium in March 2011 in exchange for helping the company to secure the RM6.3bil Penang underwater tunnel. draft.
On August 10, he was indicted under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act for soliciting a RM3.3 thousand bribe from the Zenith Construction Consortium between January 2011 and August 2017 in exchange for helping the company to be named a builder of three related roads. to the project.
He was then indicted on August 11 along with his wife Betty Chew and businesswoman Phang Li Koon.
Lim was accused of abusing his public office to obtain gratification under Section 23 of the MACC Act when he was Prime Minister and Chairman of the Penang Development Corporation between August 19, 2013 and March 3, 2016.
Chew faced three counts of money laundering, while Phang was charged with instigating Lim to win RM 372,009 for Chew.
The charges against Lim were during his tenure as Prime Minister of Penang.
Lim, Chew and Phang have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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