KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): The Court of Appeal (COA) has set Aug 21 to deliver its decision in former Baling Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim's appeal of his defamation suit against DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng in relation to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

Lim's lawyer Felix Lim confirmed the matter with The Edge when contacted, following a case management before COA deputy registrar Norkamilah Aziz on Thursday (June 8).

Following submissions by parties on May 19, a three-member panel led by appellate court judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi said that they needed more time to deliberate on the matter and reserved its decision to another date.

The others on the bench were Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya and Datuk Azimah Omar.

The Penang High Court had dismissed Abdul Azeez's defamation suit against Lim in December 2020, ruling that the former Lembaga Tabung Haji chairman failed to prove his claims.

It was reported that the Kedah Regional Development Authority (KEDA) chairman sued Lim in 2018 claiming that the latter made defamatory statements linking Abdul Azeez to a payment of RM3 million in consultation fees by Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, the developer of the state's RM6.34 billion undersea tunnel project.

Lim, a former Penang chief minister had made the statement during two separate events in February 2018 which were later uploaded on his Facebook page.

Separately, Lim, who is also Bagan MP and a former minister of finance, is currently on trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on graft charges involving the same project.

Lim is charged with two counts of dishonest misappropriation of property by releasing two plots of state-owned land to two companies.

Lim is also accused of soliciting, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in March 2011, a 10% cut in profits from the undersea tunnel project from Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, a director of Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd — a special purpose vehicle of Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) — to aid the group to secure the project.

Also read :
COA reserves judgement on ex-Baling MP’s appeal in a defamation suit against Guan Eng