It is understood that the case was transferred from the Butterworth sessions court to the Penang High Court during a case management on March 23.

The High Court has fixed the case for mention on May 26. It is expected to record their pleas on that day.

Lim, Chew and Phang were charged on Aug 11, 2020 with abuse of power and money laundering over the award of a RM11.6 million project to construct dormitories for foreign workers to a company linked to Phang.

Lim was charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 with abuse of power as then chief minister and tender board chairman of the Penang Development Corporation.

He was alleged to have given gratification worth RM372,009 to Chew, through Excel Property Management & Consultancy Sdn Bhd, by ensuring that Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd was offered the project to construct the dormitories at Juru and Batu Kawan.

Phang was charged with abetting Lim under Section 28 (1)(c) of the same Act. The offence is alleged to have taken place between Aug 19, 2013 and March 3, 2016.

Chew was charged with three counts of laundering RM372,009 from a Public Bank account registered at the Taman Melaka Raya branch between Oct 7, 2013 and March 3, 2016.

The trio were each released on bail of RM50,000 in one surety.

Lim is currently standing trial in the Kuala Lumpur sessions court for allegedly using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask businessman Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli for a 10% cut of the profits from the undersea tunnel corruption case.

The former finance minister is also accused of seeking RM3.3 million in kickbacks to appoint Zarul’s company to undertake the project.

He also faces two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land given to two companies. The undersea tunnel corruption trial will resume on July 17.