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BUTTERWORTH: The corruption trial of former Penang Prime Minister Lim Guan Eng, his wife, Betty Chew, and his partner, Phang Li Koon, has been postponed for another two months.
This was after the court granted a two-month extension in October to give the defense time to review “voluminous” documents.
Lim, Chew and Phang were previously accused of receiving bribes in connection with a RM11.6 million project for dormitories for foreign workers. They pleaded not guilty.
In the Court of Sessions here today, Deputy Prosecutor Shafiq Hasim said the new extension request was from the prosecution to allow him to present five more documents. He did not say what they were.
He said the extension was also to allow the prosecution to print all the documents presented thus far, as requested by the defense. The documents had previously been served on compact discs.
Judge Ahmad Azhari Abdul Hamid accepted the request and set the mention of February 19 to decide the dates of the trial.
RSN Rayer appeared for Lim and Chew, and Ruebankumar Asokan appeared for Phang.
The trio were charged on August 11 with crimes related to illegal proceeds received in Chew’s bank account as money taken to ensure that the dormitory project was awarded to a certain company.
They were charged under the Anti-Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Proceeds from Illicit Activities Act 2001 and the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.
