Azura Alwi noted that questions posed to Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli by lawyers RSN Rayer and Haijan Omar were about “the same issues but used different sentence structures”.
“I have the facts (about this case). But when you drag this matter out, it makes me lose focus,” she said.
“We still have a few more parts to go. I don’t know how long it will take to complete this exercise (questioning Zarul),” she said.
Haijan then apologised for the defence’s line of questioning.
Earlier, Lim’s lawyers asked Zarul about the source of a purported RM2 million given to fellow businessman G Gnanaraja in 2017.
Haijan said there were material contradictions between Zarul’s 2018 statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and his testimony in court.
The lawyer said that while Zarul told MACC he had borrowed about RM2 million from another businessman to pay Gnanaraja, in court, he said the RM2 million was from the sale of a plot of land.
Zarul, however, disagreed that it was a contradiction.
Haijan then added that Zarul’s company had taken a loan from Maybank as well for the purpose.
Azura told the defence they could submit the matter at the end of the prosecution’s case.
Meanwhile, Rayer asked whether Zarul had lied to MACC about the matter in 2018, claiming that the latter had not disclosed the truth.
“You are accusing me (of lying), and I don’t agree with you,” said Zarul.
Deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat then told the court that questions about Zarul’s statement to MACC had already been raised.
Azura told Rayer to move on to another issue, saying there was “no point” in quarrelling with Zarul about his statement.
“If you continue (asking Zarul), you will never get the answer you want,” she added.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
Lim is standing trial on charges of using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask Zarul, the director of Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd, for a 10% cut of the profits from the undersea tunnel project, and accepting a total of RM3.3 million in kickbacks between 2011 and 2017 from the businessman.
He is also accused of two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land.