GEORGE TOWN: A Gerakan leader is of the opinion that some DAP leaders are bent on seeing their party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng locked up even before his power abuse, corruption and possibly money laundering charges are heard in the courts by making subjudicial comments involving his cases.
Gerakan vice president Datuk Baljit Singh said the Deputy Public Prosecutor handling Lim's first case of seeking a 10 per cent cut from the Penang Undersea Tunnel project worth RM6.3 billion had given a clear warning that the prosecution would not hesitate to seek for his bail to be revoked if subjudicial comments are made pending trial.
"However, instead of heeding the warning, many DAP leaders, including the accused himself, have been going around, not only making all sorts of comments, but also casting aspersions on the charges filed against him.
"Lim has accused the authorities of committing political persecution against him. He has also questioned what he terms as a lack of evidence to implicate him even as the charges have just been filed," he said today.
On Friday, when Lim was first charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, he and other DAP leaders said that the accusation was flawed as no exact monetary figure had been attached in the charge sheet.
Baljit said the Bagan member of parliament seemed to have completed his submission of what needed to be said in court even before any evidence is presented.
He added that yesterday, after Lim was slapped with another charge, this time for power abuse and soliciting RM3.3 million from the owner of the company involved in the undersea tunnel project, Lim again tried to fight his case outside the courts by stating that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had failed to show any evidence of his wrongdoing or other solid proof.
Since then, Baljit pointed out, others like DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua, had jumped on the bandwagon to fight Lim's case outside the courtrooms by maligning a potential witness in the case by calling the person an unreliable witness.
Another DAP leader, former Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong, had also waded into the issue by commenting that the charges against Lim were to counteract former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's conviction in the SRC International case.
These two postings have since prompted a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Penang to lodge two separate reports against Pua and also Liew.
"My advise to Lim and the other DAP leader is that they wait for his day in court. Just like any other accused person, Lim will have plenty of opportunity to clear his name if he is indeed innocent.
"Making subjudicial comments on the charges against Lim is just going to end with even bigger problems for him.
"If the prosecutors have filed 'flawed' charges as Lim and other DAP leaders claimed, his lawyers will have a field day and an even easier task to get his acquittal. There is no need to fear if the prosecutors don't have any solid proof, isn't it YB?" Baljit asked.
"Another word of advice to Lim is to stop being a hypocrite by telling others to not draw his family members into the problems he is facing, while at the same time, make a show of 'dragging' his aged mother to the Butterworth courts as he is charged.
"Surely there is no need to expose her to the dangers of a Covid-19 infection just for a photo opportunity to gain public sympathy," he added.