Cabinet Papers be Declassified First

Dr Ling wants PKFZ Cabinet papers declassified

UPDATED @ 11:41:47 AM 03-09-2010

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

September 03, 2010

Dr Ling wants Cabinet documents related to the PKFZ to be made publicly accessible for his trial. — file pic

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 3 — Lawyers for Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik today asked for Cabinet documents on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal to be declassified and the trial to be moved to Kuala Lumpur from here.
The former transport minister’s lawyers said this today when Putrajaya Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin set the case to be mentioned on November 30.
Wong Kian Kheong, one of Dr Ling’s lawyers, said the documents were necessary for the defence to prepare its case.
“The defence needs documents such as the minutes of Cabinet meetings, Cabinet committee meetings and post-Cabinet papers under the Official Secrets Act (1972).
“We need to declassify the documents in order to prepare the necessary defence arguments,” Wong told the court.
He said the defence needs to interview the witnesses in both of Dr Ling’s charges in the presence of the investigating officer.
Dr Ling was charged on July 30 with concealing the fact that the Finance Ministry’s valuation and property service department had valued the land for the troubled port project at RM25psf for a repayment period of 10 years, or RM25.82psf for a repayment period of 15 years, including interest chargeable for the repayment period.
He was charged in the Putrajaya Sessions Court under section 418 of the Penal Code with “cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect”.
He is alleged to have committed offence at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between September 25 and November 6, 2002. The charge carries a maximum seven years’ jail or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Dr Ling also faces an alternative charge, under section 417, of cheating the government by misleading the Cabinet on the land acquisition for the same project, at the same place and time.
Under the alternative charge, he is liable to a jail term of up to five years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Wong also requested for an early mention date for the case.
“I have applied for an early mention date as my client is a retired deputy minister and minister and has been a long-serving public servant,” he said.
However, deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad argued that it was impossible to have an early mention date.
“We have no objection to an early mention but we feel that it is not possible because we need time to act on the several applications by the defence,” Dzulkifli said.
He added the prosecution will only declassify the confidential documents if they are used in court.
Dzulkifli also confirmed that the prosecution had received the defence’s application to transfer the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday.
MI