An early morning incident at the home of a key prosecution witness in Lim Guan Eng’s corruption trial was a “clear-cut robbery”, according to police.
Petaling Jaya police chief Shahrulnizam Ja’afar said “no witness tampering” was involved in the incident and that the robbers fled the scene through the forest behind the house at Jalan Bukit Gasing, New Straits Times reported.
In a separate statement, Shahrulnizam confirmed that valuables were stolen from the house by the robbers who were masked and armed with parangs.
“Several masked criminals armed with parangs broke into the house and got away with valuables that were stored in a safe,” he said, adding that police were alerted to the incident at 7.20am.
He said the case is being investigated under Sections 395 and 397 of the Penal Code for gang robbery and armed robbery with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, respectively.
Earlier, New Straits Times reported that the key witness suffered injuries to his face and hand after being attacked by 10 men at his home. The assailants are said to have tied up two security guards before entering the house.
The lead prosecutor in Lim’s case, Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, said they were mulling applying for witness protection for the victim following the incident.
Lim is charged with using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask a businessman for a 10% cut of the profits from the undersea tunnel project and accepting RM3.3 million in kickbacks.
He is also accused of two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land.
