Malaysian ex-finance minister faces corruption charge; issued bail

Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia' ex-finance minister, has been charged with a corruption charge regarding the $1.5 billion construction project.

The leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) has pleaded not guilty to soliciting bribe from a businessman in exchange for being appointed for the project.

His allies have come out in support and have alleged this case to be a politically motivated move.

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The case centres on a 6.3 billion ringgit ($1.5 billion) project to build an undersea tunnel in the northern state of Penang, which Lim led as chief minister from 2008 to 2018.

The allegations claim that the amount wasa cut of profits the company would have gained from the work it performed on the project.

While the leader was let out on bail on Friday morning, he faces the danger of a 20-year prison sentence, if proven guilty for the corruption charge.He will also face two more corruption charges next week, according to the anti-graft agency.

This i not the first time the 59-year-old leader has had to face the jury for such an allegation. Few years ago, too, Lim Guan Eng was faced with similar corruption charges. However, those were dropped in 2018.

Lim is not the first leader to come under the microscope for such allegations. Many leaders from his party are being challenged for their actions, in the present and past, for the last few months now. Lim, however, is the highest-profile figure to face a criminal probe in recent months.