Lim Guan Eng was charged in the Sessions Court in Butterworth today with wrongfully misappropriating two plots of land to two developers in Penang when he was the chief minister of Penang…
Lim is alleged to have caused the Penang Land Ownership Registrar to transfer the ownership of a plot of land in Bandar Tanjong Pinang to developer Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd on Feb 17, 2015, at the Land and Mines Department at Komtar….
Lim was charged with “wrongfully misappropriating” the land in question, worth RM135,086,094, to the developer.
Lim was also charged with “wrongfully misappropriating” [another plot of land] worth RM73,668,986, to the developer.
If convicted, Lim faces a jail term of not less than six months and a maximum of five years, plus whipping and fine. Lim claimed trial to both charges.
Outside the court, Wan Shaharuddin said the charges against Lim are “the mother of all charges”.
He said today’s charges were related to the first and second charges, which Lim faced in Butterworth and Kuala Lumpur last month, related to the controversial Penang Undersea Tunnel.
“We got the body, and now the tail,” Wan Shaharuddin said, adding that these were the last charges related to the Penang Undersea Tunnel project. Asked his chances of winning, the prosecutor said: “Our policy in AGC is that we only prosecute when we have a 99 percent chance of conviction.”
If this DPP thinks his case is the “Mother of All Charges” he has clearly not been listening to what has been going on in Malaysia for the past several months as federal leaders and their wives have been caught up (and found guilty) in global scandals worth billions.
Guan Eng appears to have been verbally accused by a fellow who admits to being a briber and a liar of agreeing to an alleged 10% ‘profit bribe’ for a tunnel that has yet to be started in his state. The witness also claims he made some unrecorded cash donations to the chief minister for his party of several thousand ringgit (Musa Aman would snort) – the sort of donations he says he also made to UMNO politicians against whom no action has been taken.
Guan Eng is now being accused of using his authority to alienate necessary state land to this gentleman’s company following its winning of an open tender for the project in question. It is what the prosecutor describes as “the tail” to his tale. Slam dunk?
DPP Wan Shaharuddin clearly thinks so, since the law officer, who seems to adopt the language of a ball game commentator when referring to grave carriages of justice, announced to reporters that his department only prosecutes when it has a “99% chance of conviction”.
This ought to give Zahid and Najib pause. However, for those who believe in the rule of law and duty of the prosecution to support victims of crime such a statement is truly shocking.
To all intents and purposes it is an admission that the forces of law and order in Malaysia are unlikely to waste their time on a rape, burglary, violent act or fraud…… unless, the political circumstances are such that a conviction will be driven through.
That was the implication of what Wan Shaharuddin said, so perhaps his statement should be ‘clarified’ by those in charge of his department?
Meanwhile, it is noted and tragic that the cowering of Malaysian media by a back-door coup government has extended to a decision by the independent online publication Malaysiakini to close its comments section for this particular story, given the anticipation of public outrage it will provoke. The paper’s editors are being outrageously sued over previous comments with this desired effect.
Sarawak Report will not be silenced in criticising the appalling statements of this representative of Malaysia’s prosecution service and his inappropriate tone in the conduct of a serious matter of criminal justice.
Should he wish to talk about the “Mother of all Land Alienation Cases” he and his fellow prosecutors should turn their attention to the outrageous and pernicious alienations of native lands in Sarawak, featuring plunder and land grabs on a global scale by those politically in charge for their own personal gain to the tune of billions.
However, Taib and his cronies are key supporters of the back door coup government and so therefore presumably Wan Shaharuddin reckons he has nowhere near a 99% chance of a conviction?