KUALA LUMPUR: The defence has submitted an application to obtain a copy of the witness statement by one of the key witnesses in the corruption trial of former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.
Lim's counsel, Gobind Singh Deo, said the document recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was necessary to enable the defence to initiate proceedings to challenge the credibility of the 23rd witness — Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli — over his contradictory statements in court.
"The defence has a right to question Zarul regarding the payment of RM2 million each for Lim and (former prime minister) Datuk Seri Najib Razak through middleman G. Gnanaraja in 2017.
"In the previous proceedings, Zarul had claimed that RM2 million was allocated for Lim alone. As such, there is a serious contradiction in his statement. We wish to challenge his credibility under Section 145 of the Evidence Act 1950," said Gobind.
Gobind said that Zarul, while giving his statement to the MACC on Gnanaraja's case in the Shah Alam Sessions Court, had said that the RM2 million given to the businessman was to close the MACC's case against his company.
On Monday, Zarul told the court that RM2 million was given to Lim via a cheque regarding the Penang undersea tunnel and road construction project, while another RM2 million was given to Najib to end MACC's probe into his company.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin objected to the application. He argued that it wasn't done according to procedure and was baseless.
He also said it was meant to fish information from Zarul, when the defence could simply cross-examine him for the same purpose.
"An application of this nature at this stage is premature, as it is based only on Zarul's statement. He (Zarul) had amended his statement to the MACC.
"What the defence actually wants is to study the statement and ensure that it has been amended, not to challenge the witness' credibility," said Wan Shaharuddin.
Fellow prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, meanwhile said the application should be rejected as the statement should be classified as a "special document" as part of communications under the Evidence Act.
After listening to arguments from both sides, Judge Azura Alwi fixed Nov 2 for decision. The trial dates for Oct 25 and Nov 1 had been vacated.
Based on the charges, Lim was accused of using his position as Penang chief minister to receive a RM3.3 million bribe to award the RM6,341,383,702 project to Zarul's company.
Lim was accused of committing the offence between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister's Office.
Lim was also accused of asking for 10 per cent of Zarul's potential profits as a reward for securing the project for the company.
Lim was accused of committing the offence near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City between 12.30am and 2am in March, 2011.
He also faced two charges of allowing two plots of land belonging to the Penang government, valued at RM208.8 million, to be disposed of to a property developer in relation to the undersea tunnel project. --Bernama