Malaysian Anti-Graft Body Slams Finance Minister’s Acquittal on Corruption Charges

Malaysia’s anti-graft agency expressed shock Monday at a court’s decision to acquit Lim Guan Eng, the new finance minister, of corruption-related charges brought against him under the previous government while he served as the chief minister of Penang state.

The Penang High Court earlier in the day cleared Guan Eng and businesswoman Phang Li Koon of corruption charges over his 2015 purchase from her of a bungalow at well below market value, the government-run Bernama news service and other local outlets reported.

He was also charged following his arrest in June 2016 with abuse of power in his position as Penang’s chief minister for allegedly rezoning a plot of land in the state from agricultural to residential use.

Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail acquitted and discharged the two defendants, who first went on trial in March this year, following a motion by their lawyers that they be fully acquitted, Bernama reported.

“The MACC is extremely shocked by the Penang High Court decision today to acquit former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng from corruption charges linked to the purchase of a bungalow unit and the charges against businesswoman Phang Li Koon,” the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a statement.

“The MACC would like to stress that the decision to withdraw the charges was made by the Attorney General’s Chamber and not MACC,” the commission added, referring to the nation’s new attorney general, Tommy Thomas.

On Monday night, BenarNews learned that MACC’s top management had a heated argument with Thomas over the case.

“We were not informed or given an explanation as to why such a decision was made,” a source familiar with the case told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.

Following Monday’s court ruling, Guan Eng declined to comment on his acquittal, the Malaysian Star newspaper reported.

When he was arrested two years ago, he alleged that the charges against him were part of a political attack aimed at ending his career then as a leader of the opposition.   

Since the new government took over in May 2018, Guan Eng has been a high-profile minister in its cornerstone efforts to investigate massive corruption allegedly committed by the government of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, in particular a financial scandal tied to the state fund known as 1MDB.

Reacting to MACC’s critical reaction, Ramkarpal Singh, an attorney representing Guan Eng, said “I am shocked that the MACC is shocked over the decision.”

“Obviously this matter has been brought up to the attention of MACC by the AG,” Singh said, according to a report in the Star.

“They (MACC) obviously have knowledge and been informed that the charges will be withdrawn, as the entire process involves the MACC,” he added.

However, the head of a local NGO that works to uncover graft cast suspicion over the court’s acquittal of the finance minister.

In a statement, Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) referred to how, in 2016, then-Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali had appeared in the Penang Sessions Court to press the initial charges against Guan Eng.

“Apandi was so confident in leading the prosecution of Lim himself. But if the then-AG was so certain in the case, how can it be so easily dropped by the High Court today?” Gabriel said,

“Either the previous AG was coerced into pressing charges in court, or the system is always stacked in favor of the existing government,” the news outlet Free Malaysia Today quoted her as saying.

She went on to express concern “that politicians who have actually betrayed public trust may be allowed back into the system, while others may have to suffer from trumped-up charges in the interest of defending political supremacy rather than public interest.”