KUALA LUMPUR – The prosecution will apply to amend two of the four corruption charges against former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng over the state’s undersea tunnel project when the case comes up for mention on December 21.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, who leads the prosecution, told Bernama that the case was initially fixed for mention today, but had to be postponed due to the implementation of the conditional movement control order till December 6.
“We were informed of the new mention date by the court through an email on November 9.”
It is learnt that the amendments include the “insertion of time” and “removal of words that are not elements” in the charges.
On August 7, Lim was charged in his capacity as chief minister with corruptly soliciting gratification to help a company secure the RM6.3 billion tunnel project.
He allegedly sought 10% of the profits to be made by the company from its owner, Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, here in March 2011.
Three days later, he was charged at the Butterworth Sessions Court with using his position as chief minister to solicit RM3.3 million in gratification for himself as an inducement for helping the company secure the project.
On September 11, the Bagan MP was charged with two counts of causing two plots of land belonging to the Penang government worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to two firms linked to the tunnel project.
The offences were allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office at Komtar on February 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017. – Bernama, November 19, 2020
