KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The Sessions Court on Tuesday allowed former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s defence application to begin impeachment proceedings against star prosecution witness and former Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli.
Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi allowed the defence to obtain 31 out of 108 pages of Zarul Ahmad's statement, which was taken by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in relation to a case against businessman Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja, to start the proceedings.
The court ordered all the related pages — Page 5 to 14, 23 to 27, 52 and 53, 69 to 72, and 99 to 108 — to be given to the defence by Jan 17, with the rest being redacted.
With the impeachment proceedings, a trial within a trial will be held to determine the veracity of the witness' testimony made in the present undersea tunnel graft trial, and if he had been lying under oath.
If the former director is found guilty, he faces jail time or a fine.
Since November 2023, the defence had wanted to get a hold of Zarul Ahmad's statement, which was taken by the MACC for its case against Gnanaraja, to show the inconsistency in the witness' testimony and thus start impeachment proceedings.
Gnanaraja was charged with three counts of cheating Zarul Ahmad, but pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under the Companies Act 2016.
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The impeachment proceedings centre on the RM2 million graft money paid by the company, where in Gnanaraja’s trial, it was revealed that it was to be paid to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, while in Lim’s trial, it was for the former Penang chief minister.
As a result of this, Lim’s then lead counsel Gobind Singh Deo asked the court to compel the prosecution to give the documents for them to study and institute impeachment proceedings.
However, the prosecution led by Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Laden said the statement should be given to Azura for her to look into it and decide on the matter, resulting in the decision on Tuesday.
The hearing of the impeachment proceedings is fixed for Feb 26.
Lim, 60, allegedly used his position as the then chief minister of Penang to receive bribes amounting to RM3.3 million by helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad to be appointed to implement a highway and undersea tunnel project in Penang worth RM6,341,383,702.
Lim allegedly committed the act between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister's Office.
For the second amended charge, Lim allegedly sought a bribe of 10% of the profits from Zarul Ahmad, as an inducement to help the businessman's company to be appointed for the same project.
Lim allegedly committed the act near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City between 12.30am and 2am, in March 2011.
He is also facing two charges of causing two lots of land owned by the Penang government worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to companies allegedly linked to the undersea tunnel project in the state. The offences were allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017.
Lim was represented by counsels Haijan Omar and RSN Rayer.