THE Penang High Court today rejected applications by Lim Guan Eng, his wife Betty Chew, and businesswoman Phang Li Koon to strike out corruption and money-laundering charges levelled against them.
Judicial commissioner Rofiah Mohamad dismissed their bid to strike out the case on the grounds of double jeopardy.
She said there was a major difference in the new charges compared to the original ones.
"The facts of the case are different. The case must go on," she was quoted as saying in media reports.
Last year, the three accused filed an application to strike out the case, citing the use of the same evidence in an unrelated case from which Lim was acquitted in 2018.
Lim told Malaysiakini he and his wife would file an appeal to nullify the charges.
On June 23 last year, Lim and Chew filed to strike out the case, contending that the new charges against them were the same ones levelled against Lim in 2016.
The new case, like the former one, is centred on the alleged conversion of state land status and purchase of a bungalow below market value.
In a copy of the affidavit supporting the striking-out bid, the husband and wife claimed that the present charges violated their fundamental right not to be charged for the same offence from which they have been acquitted.
Lim and Chew are relying on the legal principle of double jeopardy, that an accused person cannot be tried again on the same or similar charges, following an acquittal or conviction.
Phang, charged with Lim in 2016, was also acquitted in 2018. In 2020, she was brought again to the criminal court alongside Lim and Chew.
Initially charged in the Butterworth Sessions Court in 2020, the trio’s case has since been transferred to the George Town High Court.
The court today fixed July 26 for case management. – May 3, 2024.
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