KUALA LUMPUR – The prosecution in the corruption case involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has handed over the forensic report of WhatsApp conversations between two businessmen to the defence team.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Yasmin Salleh told sessions court judge Azura Alwi during mention of the case today that the document was submitted on April 18.
Lim’s counsel Haijan Omar confirmed receipt of the document.
The forensic report involved WhatsApp exchanges between businessman G. Gnanaraja and Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd director, Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli regarding the “RM2 million chocolate gift” allegedly given to Lim as a bribe.
The exchanges were previously revealed through the testimony of the MACC forensic investigating officer Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Yusof.
Lim, 61, is facing an amended charge of using his position as then Penang chief minister to accept a bribe of RM3.3 million in helping a company owned by Zarul to obtain a construction project worth RM6,341,383,702 at the Office of the Chief Minister of Penang, 28th Floor, Komtar, George Town between January 2011 and August 2017.
For the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe from Zarul, namely 10% of the company’s profits, as an inducement for obtaining the project. He is accused of committing the act near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here in March 2011.
Lim also faces two charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8 million owned by the Penang government to be disposed of to two companies allegedly linked to the state’s undersea tunnel project.
He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Penang Land and Mines Office, 21st Floor, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017.
The trial continues July 18. – Bernama, May 10, 2023
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