Impeachment proceedings against Abdul Kadir to go on

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KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday allowed a request by the prosecution to initiate impeachment proceedings against former Tourism Minister Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir in the cheating case involving former Transport Minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik.

In allowing the application, judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi said there were material contradictions between Abdul Kadir’s testimony in court and in the cautioned statement he gave to the police.

Deputy Solicitor-General 11 Datuk Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah applied to impeach Abdul Kadir after finding that there were contradictions in the former minister’s testimony in court yesterday with the cautioned statement he made to investigating officer Supt R. Rajagopal on July 6 last year.

Tun Majid said that in the cautioned statement, Abdul Kadir agreed that the final price for the purchase of the 1,000 acre site for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project was RM1.08 billion, but testified in court that that the price was RM1.88 billion inclusive of 7.5 per cent interest.

He said in the cautioned statement, Abdul Kadir also stated that any changes in the price would be referred back to the cabinet, while in his testimony in the court, he had said that it was not necessary and the decision could be made by officers at the Finance Ministry or the relevant ministries.

Ahmadi set next Monday for submission by both parties on whether the defence should be allowed access to the full transcript of the cautioned statement recorded by the police or only the conflicting part/s.

Earlier, Tun Majid had said that based on previous court decisions, the prosecution was only required to provide the affected conflicting parts and not the whole statement.

Ling’s lawyer, Wong Kian Kheong said the defence should be given a chance to submit on the matter because it involved an important issue of law and the defence had the right to protect the credibility of its witnesses.

He also said it was necessary to produce to the court the full transcript of the cautioned statement to ensure justice for all parties.

Meanwhile, Tun Majid also informed the court yesterday that the prosecution would make a preliminary objection to any application by the defence to subpoena Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Ling, who was Transport Minister for 17 years from 1986, is charged with cheating the government by not disclosing to the Cabinet, an additional interest rate of 7.5 per cent per annum on the purchase price of the land for the PKFZ project, which had been fixed at RM1,088,456,000 by the JPPH, based on RM25 psf, inclusive of the coupon/interest rates.

He also faces two alternative (amended) charges of cheating and intentionally not disclosing to the Cabinet that the 7.5 per cent per annum was an additional interest rate on the land price.

He is alleged to have committed the offences at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office, Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002. — Bernama