Court Grants Guan Eng S Bid To Secure Whatsapp Messages In Graft Trial

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Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng is accused of corruption in connection with the undersea tunnel project. (Bernama pic)KUALA LUMPUR: The sessions court has ordered prosecutors to produce WhatsApp messages exchanged between two key prosecution witnesses in Lim Guan Eng’s ongoing undersea tunnel corruption case.
Judge Azura Alwi said Lim’s discovery application had fulfilled all requirements in law.
“The court finds that there are two versions as to who was the recipient of the RM2 million payment.
“The full facts need to be presented before the court so that the truth can be known,” she said.
Lim is standing trial for using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask businessman Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli for a 10% cut of the profits from the roads-and-tunnel project.
The former finance minister is also accused of seeking RM3.3 million in kickbacks to appoint Zarul’s company to undertake the project.
He also faces two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land given to two companies.
Ads by KioskedLim had asked for the prosecution to produce a forensic report on Whatsapp conversations between Zarul and another key witness, G Gnanaraja, on grounds that their contents were crucial to his defence in the case.
His lawyers had previously argued that the messages between the two businessmen will show he did not receive RM2 million as alleged.
The report was tendered as evidence in a separate criminal case in the Shah Alam sessions court in which Gnanaraja was charged with cheating Zarul of RM19 million.
Gnanaraja is expected to be called as a witness in Lim’s corruption case later.
After the decision, deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court the prosecution will make the report available to the defence by April 17.
Azura fixed a case management on May 10 pending the handover. - FMT

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