The defence in the trial of three people accused of cheating OSK Trustees in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project has raised doubts over a prosecution witness’ qualification to give testimony on Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) matters.
DPP Farhan Read had been examining witness A. Murytharan, who is Port Klang Authority (PKA) engineering deputy general manager, on a letter from TNB dated Jan 6, 2006, which stated that only civil engineering works for the 33kV of electricity supply project could be carried out by Kuala Dimensi.
At this juncture, lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, representing one of the accused, rose and said the witness who should testify on the matter should come from TNB.
The accused in the case are former Kuala Dimensi project manager Law Jenn Dong, 53, architect Bernard Tan Seng Swee, 50, from BTA Architect, and Kuala Dimensi chief operating officer Stephen Abok, 53.
Tan, who is representing Law, said it would not be fair to his client if Murytharan was deemed qualified to give evidence on the issue based on him receiving a copy of the TNB letter.
Lawyer Datuk V. Sithambaram, representing Bernard Tan, said the prosecution’s move to examine the witness on the letter of approval by TNB was prejudicial to his client.
However, head of prosecution Dzulkifli Ahmad said the witness was only testifying about what he understood from the letter.
Dzulkifli, who is the head of the forfeiture unit of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, said PKA should give its view on the issue in the course of the proceedings.
Judge Asmadi Husin allowed Murytharan to continue with his testimony.
Murytharan told the court that the PKA later held three meetings in January 2006 to discuss the electricity infrastructure project in PKFZ, attended, among others, by him, PKA general manager Datin Paduka O.C. Phang, Law, electricity consultant Yow Kai Yong, Bernard Tan and TNB representatives.
At this juncture, Asmadi adjourned the proceedings after Murytharan told the court that he was unwell.
The trial resumes on Nov 15. — Bernama
Source : The Star
Related News : Civil servant’s testimony on PKFZ land purchase fails to convince judge
No comments:
Post a Comment