Sept 3 date to determine if case against Guan Eng to proceed

GEORGE TOWN: The High Court here has given the prosecution until Sept 3 to hear the outcome of the discussions in the Attorney-General's (AG) Chamber on whether the corruption trial of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng should proceed.
Justice Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail made the decision after hearing points submitted by the defence and the prosecution.
Lim was not present but another accused, businesswoman Phang Li Khoon, and counsel V. Sithambaram were in court.
Outside the courtroom, one of Lim's defence counsels, Ramkarpal Singh Deo, told journalists that the decision to drop or proceed with the corruption case against Lim was up to the AG.
He said no decision was made yet as the prosecution has yet to shift through representations of earlier testimonials and of the new evidence submitted.
Ramkarpal said the defence had also submitted new representations to the prosecution on June 6.
"The judge (Hadhariah) has given the prosecution up to a month to consider the fresh representations that we have dispatched to them."
Representing the prosecution was Abdul Rashid Daud.
Lim was the Penang chief minister when he was charged in 2016 with two counts of using his position to approve an application by a company, where Phang has an interest in, to convert a farm-status land to residential.
On the second charge, Lim was accused of using his position in public office to purchase a bungalow in Pinhorn Road from Phang for RM2.8 million, a sale which was lower than the market pricing of RM4.27 million, the prosecution had alleged.
For both counts, Phang was charged with abetting Lim. They pleaded not guilty to the chrages.