Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin rose to register his objection after lawyer RSN Rayer, representing Lim, suggested that key witness Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli was implicated in vice.

Shaharuddin said the questions had no relevance to the corruption charges Lim was facing.

“This is not a religious case, but a corruption case. How are the questions relevant to our case today?” he asked.

Sessions court judge Azura Alwi agreed.

“The accused (Lim) is facing charges under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act. The prosecution’s duty is to prove the ingredients of the charges,” she said, telling Rayer to limit his questions to the issues at hand.

Zarul told the court from the witness stand that he was offended by Rayer’s line of questioning.

“I was joking (in my Whatsapp conversation with fellow businessman G Gnanaraja). Can’t we talk about jokes in private conversations?” he asked

Azura ruled the questions irrelevant and ordered that they be expunged from the record.

Lim is charged with using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask Zarul for a 10% cut of the profits from the undersea tunnel project and accepting RM3.3 million in kickbacks from the businessman.

He is also accused of two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land.

The hearing continues on Nov 14.