KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi on Tuesday (July 18) instructed former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng's defence team to file a formal application with the court if it seeks to summon deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Nik Haslinie Nik Hashim as a witness in Lim’s undersea tunnel graft trial.
Azura conveyed this to lead defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo, who accused Nik Haslinie of suppression of evidence due to her role as DPP in another court case involving businessman G Gnanaraja.
Gobind claimed Nik Haslinie is aware of conflicting evidence in Lim and Gnanaraja’s cases, and the fact that some witnesses had lied while on the witness stand in Lim’s trial.
“This amounts to suppression of evidence of the highest order. This is important when we refer to the Gnanaraja case and it is without doubt that Nik Haslinie appeared for the prosecution in that case. Here, she sits through the proceedings and has heard witnesses who [allegedly] lied but she did nothing.
“This shows there is a problem in the entire prosecution case. I would like to indicate to this court that the defence may call Nik Haslinie as a witness,” Gobind said.
Gobind questioned if Nik Haslinie could continue to appear for the prosecution in this case, when she was a potential witness for both the prosecution and defence.
He also said that the defence may cite several witnesses in this case for contempt of court, referring to a Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) officer who gave the forensic report over text messages between Gnanaraja and former director of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli.
DPPs Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Laden and Ahmad Akram Gharib objected, with Wan Shaharuddin saying that the prosecution’s witnesses, especially Zarul Ahmad, should be allowed to finish their testimonies before any decision by the defence.
“Let the witnesses like Zarul Ahmad and the MACC officer finish with their testimonies first,” he added.
Ahmad Akram said that the defence should have made a formal application should it wish to call Nik Haslinie as a witness.
“There is no application made and hence, Nik Haslinie should remain with the prosecution,” he added.
Azura agreed and ordered the defence to submit a formal application on the matter.
Gobind indicated that he would do so, saying he was merely giving the court notice of the defence's stance on Nik Haslinie.
Gnanaraja was charged with cheating Zarul Ahmad of RM19 million in relation to the undersea tunnel project, as this was so that Gnanaraja could help close a MACC probe against Zarul over the project.
However, Gnanaraja was found guilty by the Shah Alam Sessions Court under an alternative charge under the Companies Act 2016, and fined RM230,000 for using a company’s property with a value of RM11.42 million to obtain direct profit for himself, without seeking approval in a company’s shareholder meeting.
Lim is facing trial for using his position as the then Penang chief minister to solicit a 10% cut in the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project’s profits from Zarul, in return for aiding Zarul's company to secure the project. Lim is accused of accepting RM3.3 million in kickbacks from the director.
The Bagan Member of Parliament also faces two counts of dishonest misappropriation of property in releasing two plots of state-owned land, cumulatively worth RM208.75 million, to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd and Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd — two property companies linked to the controversial undersea tunnel project.