Prosecution confirms Guan Eng will face two new corruption charges

The prosecution in former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s corruption case in relation to the undersea tunnel project has confirmed that he will be facing two new charges in Butterworth on Friday.

(FMT) – Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi this when Lim’s case was mentioned here today.

“We have served the accused a summons to inform him about the two charges under Section 403 of Penal Code,” he said.

Wan Shaharuddin informed the court the prosecution will make amendments to Lim’s particulars on the charge sheet, by substituting his race from “Malay” to “Chinese” and his age from 59 years to 60.

The judge then told the DPP to refile the charges after the amendments have been made.

Wan Shaharuddin also said they will not be seeking additional bail to be imposed against Lim on Friday, as his previous RM1 million bail will be extended for the new charges.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo confirmed that the defence received the summons today.

Last month, Lim pleaded not guilty to two charges of soliciting a 10% cut from the profits which would have been made from the roads and tunnel project from Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (Zenith) senior director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli in March 2011.

Lim was also accused of abusing his power to obtain RM3.3 million in bribes to appoint Zarul’s company for the project. The offence was alleged to have been committed in Lim’s then Komtar office between January 2011 and August 2017.

Wan Shaharuddin also told the court there were two police reports lodged against two individuals for alleged sub judice comments on Lim’s corruption case.

“However, we would like to inform the court that YB Lim and the defence lawyers did not make the alleged comments,” he said.

In response, Gobind said the defence first found out the impending Section 403 charges through news reports last week.

“On behalf of the defence, I hope MACC does not issue informal information to the public. At least inform us in advance,” he said.

He also said the defence had not conceded with the prosecution’s application to move the case here.

The court set Oct 12 as the next mention date.