KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 16): The Penang State Executive Council did not follow the preliminary agreement for the undersea tunnel project and transferred state land to the project’s contractor without completing the conditions, the Sessions Court was told.
Former state financial officer Datuk Mokhtar Mohd Jait testified that the council decided in a meeting on March 26, 2014 to transfer the land to the contractor before the prerequisites of the preliminary agreement were fulfilled.
Among the prerequisites, as noted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, was that the feasibility studies of the three main roads and the tunnel project should have been done before the transfer of the two plots of state land known as Lot 713 and Lot 702.
Testifying as a prosecution witness in former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s graft trial on Thursday (Oct 16), Mokhtar said the term "project" in the agreement refers to the undersea tunnel together with the three main roads, comprising the twin roads from Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang, the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway to Ayer Itam bypass, and the interchange from Persiaran Gurney to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.
Mokhtar was a witness to the signing of the “preliminary agreement for the privatisation of the major road and tunnel project dated Oct 29, 2013” between the Penang government and the contractor, Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG).
He told the court that in the meeting, the state executive councillors verified and approved an application from CZBUCG for the transfer of land ownership of the two plots, even though the feasibility studies had only been completed for the three roads but not for the tunnel.
Wan Shaharuddin: Why were the plots of land, Lot 713 and Lot 702, paid forward, while the [feasibility] study of the tunnel was not completed yet?
Mokhtar: From what I understand, the application for the payment was to follow the progress of work.
Wan Shaharuddin: My question is, pursuant to the agreement, only after the four [feasibility] studies are completed can CZBUCG get the plots of land, correct?
Mokhtar: I do not know because I am not an expert in legal matters.
Wan Shaharuddin: Let me repeat my question. It is a very simple question. Do you know why Lots 713 and 702 were paid to CZBUCG, even though the [feasibility] study of the tunnel had yet to be completed?
Mokhtar: I do not know.
'No wrongdoing'
During cross-examination by defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo, Mokhtar said that there was no wrongdoing.
Gobind: The project consists of four parts, correct?
Mokhtar: Correct.
Gobind: Which part was the payment (the transfer of land) for?
Mokhtar: The payment was done for the three main roads.
Gobind: Can you verify that as of now, there has been no payment for the tunnel?
Mokhtar: The payment was done for the feasibility studies of the three main roads. It was only for the feasibility studies and not for the physical [construction of the] project.
The lawyer highlighted that in the preliminary agreement, it was clearly stated that the plots of land — Lot 713 and Lot 702 — were involved for part one of the project.
Guan Eng, who is the Member of Parliament for Bagan, is facing two charges of dishonestly misappropriating property by releasing two plots of state-owned land to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd and Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd.
He is also accused of soliciting a 10% cut in profits from the undersea tunnel project from Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd senior executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in 2011.
The trial continues on Friday before Judge Azura Alwi.