MACC man told to produce copy of WhatsApp conversations in Guan Eng trial

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today ordered the eighth prosecution witness in Lim Guan Eng’s corruption trial to produce a digital copy of WhatsApp conversations between two businessmen linked to the former Penang chief minister. 

The court issued the order after Lim’s lead counsel, Gobind Singh Deo, informed judge Azura Alwi that similar message threads between Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli and businessman G Gnanaraja had been produced in a separate trial in Shah Alam, believed to involve the latter.

Azura also instructed the eighth prosecution witness, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) forensics department investigating officer Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Yusof, to provide the particulars of the MACC officer who had prepared the forensic report of Zarul’s phone extraction produced at the Shah Alam trial.

Gnanaraja is one of the prosecution witnesses in Lim’s trial. He claimed trial at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on April 3, 2019 to three charges of cheating Zarul of RM19 million. He was also alleged to have deceived Zarul into believing that he could help him close an MACC investigation against him.

Earlier, Wan Mohd Firdaus agreed with Gobind’s suggestion that there was a separate forensic report produced, extracted from the same phone.

He testified that the report was produced by another officer from the same department for the Shah Alam trial.

Questioned by Gobind, Wan Mohd Firdaus told the court that he only extracted information based on certain dates.

Gobind: You only extracted information based on certain dates? You did not see the whole copy?

Wan Mohd Firdaus: Yes.

Gobind: Were you required to see the whole copy?
  
Wan Mohd Firdaus: No. We needed to find some things that were specific.
 
Lim, 61, faces an amended charge of using his position as Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3 million in bribes as an inducement to help Zarul secure the project worth RM6,341,383,702.

Lim allegedly committed the offence at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office, Level 28, Komtar, George Town, between January 2011 and August 2017.

In the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe of 10% of the profit from the company as gratification to secure the project.

The offence was allegedly committed near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City in March 2011.

Lim, the former DAP secretary-general, also faces another two charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8 million belonging to the Penang government to be disposed of to two companies linked to the state’s undersea tunnel project.

The trial will continue on Oct 19.