The Malaysian Insight

FORMER Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was today charged for the fourth time for graft in connection with the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project contract award to Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd.

The DAP secretary-general pleaded not guilty to two fresh charges in the Butterworth Sessions Court for allegedly using his position as the Penang chief minister to misappropriate state-owned land worth RM208.75 million for companies related to the Penang undersea tunnel project. 

He arrived in court at 10.40am accompanied by his wife Betty Chew, his father Lim Kit Siang, and lawyer Gobind Singh.

The first charge accuses him of misappropriating state government land in Bandar Tanjong Pinang worth RM135 million, and awarding it to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd, a joint venture (JV) between Ewein Bhd and Consortium Zenith BUCG (later known as Consortium Zenith Construction).

The offence was committed on February 17, 2015, at the Penang Island Land and Mines Office in George Town.

The second charge is of misappropriating state-owned land, also in Bandar Tanjong Pinang, worth RM73.6 million, for Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd, which is linked to Consortium Zenith Construction. 

The offence was committed on March 22, 2017, at the same location.

Lim pleaded not guilty before Judge Ahmad Azhari Abdul Hamid. 

Besides Gobind,  Lim’s legal team is made up of Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, Jelutong MP R.S.N. Rayer and Sivanesan Achalingam.

Deputy public prosecutor Wan Sharuddin Wan Ladin today applied for the case to be transferred to the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to be heard with other charges filed there, as was done for Lim’s other graft cases in Penang previously. 

On August 7, Lim was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with soliciting gratification to help a company to secure the Penang undersea tunnel project. 

Lim claimed trial for soliciting a 10% bribe from the profits of the RM6.34 billion highway and undersea tunnel projects.

On August 10, he appeared at the Butterworth Sessions Court to plead not guilty to charges of using his position as the Penang chief minister for gratification amounting RM3.3 million as an inducement to help Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, owned by Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, to secure the project. He was granted bail of RM1 million in two sureties. 

On August 11, Lim was charged again, this time, in his capacity as the chief minister of Penang and then chairman of the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) Procurement Board, with using his positions for gratification involving RM372,009 for his wife, Chew, through a company, Excel Property Management & Consultancy Sdn Bhd.

He was charged along with Chew and businesswoman Phang Li Koon over foreign workers’ dormitory project worth RM11.61 million. The bail was set at RM50,000 for each individual in one surety each.

Lim pleaded not guilty to all three charges. He also claimed the charges were politically motivated.

Speaking to supporters and the media outside the court today, Lim reiterated that the fresh charge against him was designed to be a distraction for DAP and its allies contesting the Sabah elections, which begin tomorrow.

“The addition of these two charges are unfounded, politically motivated and an abuse of power by the government to tarnish and destroy my reputation ahead of the Sabah election.

“It is an attempt to distract people from scandals and controversies by a government that was not elected by the people,” he said in reference to the Perikatan Nasional government. – September 11, 2020.