KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s acquittal of cheating charges in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal should not “come as a surprise” as it merely reflects the failure of Putrajaya’s system of accountability, Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP veteran also said that the former transport minister’s acquittal showed that Malaysia was no closer to identifying the culprit behind the losses resulting from the mega project, the cost of which had ballooned from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion in 2007.

“It shows the whole system - not talking about any particular person - the failure of the whole system of integrity and accountability,” Lim told The Malay Mail Online today.

“The story has not been probed. The tale has been not been probed. We are as far away as finding the culprit, as far as ever,” added the DAP adviser.

Lim, who is also the Gelang Patah MP, called for an inquiry into the PKFZ scandal, saying that it “cannot just be left like that without any accountability whatsoever”.

Dr Ling, who was transport minister from 1986 to 2003, was acquitted by the High Court here this morning of cheating charges over a land purchase for the PKFZ project, ending a trial that had spanned over two years.

He was charged in 2010 with deceiving the Cabinet into approving the land purchase for the PKFZ project, despite knowing that the approval would result in wrongful losses for the government.

Dr Ling also faced two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet into believing that the land purchase’s terms — at RM25 psf plus 7.5 per cent interest — had the acknowledgment and agreement of the Land Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

The criminal offences were allegedly committed between September 25 and November 6 in 2002, a few months before the former MCA president stopped serving as a transport minister.

If convicted on the first charge, he would have been liable to a punishment under section 418 of the Penal Code of a maximum jail term of seven years, or a fine, or both.

The alternative charges carry a lighter sentence under section 417 of the Penal Code with a jail term of up to five years, or a fine, or both.

In the trial over the Cabinet’s 2002 approval of the Port Klang Authority (PKA)’s purchase of the 999.3 acres of land from PKFZ’s turnkey developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), the prosecution had called 25 witnesses while the defence had called eight witnesses.

At the clarification stage of the trial last month, Dr Ling’s lead counsel Wong Kian Kheong told the court that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were among five Cabinet ministers who had testified that they were not deceived by Dr Ling.

He listed these five ministers as defence witnesses Dr Mahathir, Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, and prosecution witnesses Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz and Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi Norwawi.

Dr Mahathir, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, has held that post from 1981 until October 31, 2003.

He was also then finance minister from June 2001 to 2003.

The PKFZ project, which was proposed by Dr Ling in 1997, had an initial cost of RM1.1 billion that then ballooned to over RM4.6 billion in 2007.

Besides Dr Ling, a few individuals have since been charged in court, including his successor as transport minister, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy.

The cheating trial of Chan, a former MCA deputy president, has yet to be heard.