Dr M admits contradiction, but denies being untruthful

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted in the cheating trial of former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik today that he had provided contradictory evidence, but denied that he was an untruthful witness.

Testifying in the trial of Ling, who is accused of cheating in the Pork Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land deal, Mahathir admitted that he had wrongly stated the cash price of the land to be RM25.82 per square feet (psf) during the hearing last year.

He then corrected the figure to RM21psf during cross-examination by the lead prosecutor and deputy solicitor-general II Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah when the trial resumed yesterday.

"I may have wrongly used the terms ‘cash price', ‘special price' and ‘contract price', but I have to admit that I am not an accountant," Mahathir said before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Ahmadi Aswani.

However, Tun Majid did not seem satisfied with the answer from Mahathir, who is the fourth witness for the defence.

Tun Majid: One does not need to be an accountant, a lawyer or a doctor to understand the word ‘cash'. Even a schoolboy knows the word. I am putting it to you that you are being untruthful.

Mahathir: I beg your pardon, but I am being truthful. I am merely stating that I may have used these terms inaccurately because I'm unfamiliar with these terms. 

And a schoolboy doesn't understand ‘cash price', ‘special price' and ‘contract price'. They may understand ‘cash', but not ‘cash price', ‘special price' and ‘contract price'. I may be as good as the schoolboy at that time.

[More to follow]