Khir Toyo, Guan Eng cases 'poles apart', says deputy law minister

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Hanipa Maidin said today that the corruption cases of former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng were "poles apart" and therefore could not be accorded the same treatment.

In a statement to Malaysiakini, Hanipa, who is in charge of legal affairs, deemed comparison between the two cases as "careless" and said he, himself, had followed the two cases closely over the years, even of late studying their respective case files.

Even so, he did not elaborate on the manner in which the two cases were different. Saying that he did not wish to "write a thesis", Hanipa added: "It is enough to say that I would be lying to myself if I said the two cases were the same and should be given the same 'treatment'."

"I still remember the saying that it would be discrimination to treat (the) unequal as equal.

"The Malays (would) say the two cases 'jauh panggang dari api', the Westerners would say 'the two cases are poles apart', the Arabs would give the analogy that the cases of the finance minister and the former Selangor MB were respectfully 'qiyas ma'a al-fariq'," Hanipa (photo), who is also Sepang parliamentarian, said.

The High Court in Penang had on Monday, acquitted Lim of his two charges on the alleged conversion of the status of state land and the purchase of a bungalow at below market value. Lim had been Penang chief minister at the time of the alleged offences.

This came after the Attorney-General's Chambers accepted the representations from the lawyers for Lim and businessperson Phang Li Koon, who was accused of abetting Lim in obtaining the bungalow at an undervalued cost.

The prosecution sought a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA), but judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail instead granted full acquittals to Lim and Phang.

This drew a comparison to the 2015 case on Khir from Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad yesterday.

Khir Toyo had been sentenced to 12 months in prison after the Federal Court upheld his conviction in 2015 for receiving two plots of land in Shah Alam valued at RM3.5 million for himself and his wife.

Noraini also questioned why Khir's case was heard in full, which later resulted in the former Umno leader being convicted, while Lim's case was dropped by the prosecution even before all the evidence was found and heard in court.

"At least the rakyat saw before this that there was no intervention from the attorney-general in the case involving Khir," she said.

'Why does AG have discretionary power?'

To this, Hanipa said the call for Lim's case to have been heard in full was fair and reasonable.

"However, if this was the stance, then there would be no need for the nolle prosequidoctrine. There would be no need for Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code. And there would be no need for the AG to have the power/discretion to discontinue any proceeding, under Section 145 (3) of the Federal Constitution, without having to give a reason." he said.

Nolle prosequi is a legal phrase meaning "be unwilling to pursue", or "do not prosecute".

In explaining the decision to discontinue with the case, the AGC's appellate and trial division head Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria (photo), who was responsible for reviewing the graft charges against Lim and Phang, said he chose to enter the nolle prosequi against Lim as the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses had weakened the case.

Hanafiah said as he had not been previously involved in the case, he was able to provide a "fresh eye" perspective on the case.

Meanwhile, to a question on whether the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should have been informed prior to the application for a DNAA, Hanipa said: "In my experience, when we inform, there is usually a leak (in information).

"But it is good that there is criticism. Then we can produce change (in practices)."

Both the MACC and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said they have been "shocked" by the acquittal, with a source telling Malaysiakini that the decision to withdraw graft charges against Lim was never discussed with the top MACC management. - Mkini

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