Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): The prosecution of the Penang undersea tunnel graft case said on Friday (Nov 12) they intend to admit the late Datuk Ewe Swee Kheng's witness statement when the trial resumes on Nov 29.

The founder of Ewein Bhd, who was supposed to testify in the trial, died on Oct 5 after falling from a high-end condominium in Jalan Kelawai, Georgetown.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat informed Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi of the prosecution's intention to admit Ewe's witness statement.

The prosecution laid the groundwork for admitting the witness statement by calling Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer Superintendent Syed Muhammad Fadzli Syed Hussein as a witness.

Syed Muhammad Fadzli, 38, testified that he was asked by MACC investigating officer Zulhelmi Ramli to get Ewe's death certificate, and he then obtained the document from the National Registration Department on Oct 28.

When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin about the cause of Ewe's death, the MACC officer said: "Multiple injuries consistent with fall from height."

Earlier in the trial, it was revealed that one of Ewe's firms, Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd, had received state land in 2014 in relation to the undersea tunnel project in Penang.

Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, 59, has claimed trial to two counts of dishonestly misappropriating property, namely in releasing two plots of land to Ewein Zenith and Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd.

He is charged with causing the state land registrar to dispose of one of the plots, located in Bandar Tanjong Pinang and said to be worth RM135.086 million, to Ewein Zenith at the Department of Lands and Mines in Komtar on Feb 17, 2015.

He is also charged with causing the state land registrar to dispose of the other plot, also located in Bandar Tanjung Pinang and worth RM73.668 million, to Zenith Urban at the department on March 22, 2017.

Lim is also accused of soliciting a 10% cut in profits from the undersea tunnel project from Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd senior executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in 2011.

The Bagan member of parliament is also charged with abusing his position as a public officer to assist Zarul's company to be appointed to undertake the construction of main roads and the undersea tunnel, reportedly worth RM6.341 billion, to obtain a RM3.3 million bribe.

Edited ByS Kanagaraju
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