KUALA LUMPUR — The Najib administration was left red-faced today (Oct 25) after former transport minister Ling Liong Sik was acquitted of charges that he had cheated Putrajaya in a Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land deal.

In his ruling, High Court Judge Ahmadi Asnawi said that the defence had raised reasonable doubt about the prosecution’s case against Dr Ling.

Nine witnesses, including former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, gave evidence on behalf of the former president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Dr Ling, 70, was first charged in a Sessions Court in Putrajaya in 2009 but the public prosecutor transferred the case to the High Court the following year.

The former transport minister was alleged to have deceived the Cabinet by hiding the fact that there was an additional interest rate of 7.5 per cent to the purchase price of RM25 per square foot in the deal, despite knowing that the interest rate was already included in the price.

He then allegedly induced the Cabinet to approve the land purchase, which caused losses for the government.

Dr Ling also faced two other charges of deceiving the Cabinet that the terms of the purchase of the 999.5 acres of land, at RM25psf plus 7.5 per cent interest, were acknowledged and agreed to by the Valuation and Property Services Department despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

Police started probing the PKFZ land deal in early 2009 after then Port Klang Authority chairman Lee Hwa Beng lodged a report following a financial audit of the project.

The PKFZ project, initially estimated at RM1.1 billion after it was mooted by Dr Ling in 1997, more than quadrupled in cost to RM4.6 billion by 2007. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER