THE contempt proceeding against Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was withdrawn at the Court of Appeal today.

Senior federal counsel Maisarah Jauhari told a three-member bench that they filed a notice of discontinuance yesterday.

“We asked for no order as to costs.”

The matter was confirmed by Lim’s lawyer, Mervyn Lai.

Following this, Court of Appeal chairman judge Abdul Rahman Sebli said the appeal is struck out with no order as to costs. The other judges on the bench were Zaleha Yusof and Yaacob Md Sam.

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali had cited Lim for contempt, following the former Penang chief minister’s comments on his bungalow case.

However, leave was not granted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on December 6 last year, on the grounds that there was no proper disclosure of the transcript of Lim’s press conference.

High court judge Kamaludin Mat Said had said there was a difference between the two-page transcript of the press conference held last year and the one presented by Apandi.

Apandi’s version was obtained from The Star Online, as opposed to the 11-page transcript from the defence.

“I agree with the defendant that the A-G failed to make a full disclosure to gain leave to initiate the contempt proceeding (before another judge),” Kamaludin had said in his decision.

“Hence, the court allows the defendant’s application to set aside the contempt application.”

Apandi was seeking to have Lim jailed for contempt for allegedly making statements that were detrimental to the administration of justice, and questioning the court’s dignity and integrity. – June 1, 2018.