KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s defence team on Thursday tried to show that construction company Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) had no distinct advantage from the state government with regard to it and Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) being awarded the multibillion-ringgit Penang undersea tunnel project.
Former CZBUCG senior vice-president Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli seemed evasive at the Sessions Court, when asked by Guan Eng’s counsel, Haijan Omar, over this issue. But when quizzed several times, he finally agreed that the firm did not get the advantage.
Zarul Ahmad, 65, who did not hold any position in BUCG but acted as a broker for the company when he formed CZBUCG in 2010, said BUCG and CZBUCG won the tender for the undersea tunnel project in 2012 via direct negotiations.
The witness had testified during examination-in-chief by the prosecution that he was allegedly promised by Guan Eng in March 2011 that the Penang undersea tunnel project would be given to his firm via direct negotiations, but in June 2011, he was informed that there would be an open tender for it.
“Although the award was changed from direct negotiations to an open tender, I am indebted to Guan Eng and former Penang Public Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Datuk Lim Hock Seng for assisting my company and me in getting initial preparation and competition from other tenders,” Zarul Ahmad had testified earlier.
His firm was said to have been awarded the project in July 2012, despite his claim of getting the advantage between March 2011 and July 2011.
The witness had also said when asked by the prosecution earlier that he and his company obtained a briefing from Guan Eng and Hock Seng sometime in February 2011 over the alignment of three roads and the undersea tunnel.
Witness initially disagreed with Guan Eng’s defence, now agrees all bids have equal advantage
Haijan, who appeared with counsel RSN Rayer (who is also the Member of Parliament for Jelutong), on Thursday focused on the period of March to July 2011, where Zarul Ahmad claimed his company had purportedly received an advantage in the awarding of the project, as he was shown minutes of the Penang Island City Council’s meetings between March 11, 2011, and July 11, 2011.
Haijan: I put it to you that when the meetings were held, your company and BUCG had not provided any input over the project?
Zarul Ahmad: I do not agree.
Haijan: At the time, your firm had not appointed a consultant, done any feasibility studies, or designed the projects for you to claim certain advantages as you testified?
Zarul Ahmad: I do not agree.
Haijan: At that time, no independent consultants were appointed by the Penang government to evaluate the proposal (for the project)?
Zarul Ahmad: I disagree.
When shown a Halcrow study done since the late 1990s, which Haijan says is available for the public and involves the three roads, the witness agreed that all firms involved in the bidding had access to the report and that posed no advantage for his firm’s bid.
“The alignment of the roads did not give any advantage to my firm, as this had previously been stated in the Halcrow report,” the witness said.
Zarul Ahmad was also shown the preliminary financial proposal and title scope of the project, and the witness agreed with Haijan that his company did not have any advantage compared to other firms as earlier claimed.
The Halcrow report, done by a UK-based firm for the Penang Transport Master Plan 2012, provides the state with a holistic approach to its mobility and transportation problems involving several roads.
Guan Eng, who is the Bagan MP and Ayer Putih assemblyman, is on trial for using his position as the then-Penang chief minister to solicit a 10% cut in the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project’s profits from Zarul Ahmad, in return for aiding his company to secure the project.
The 64-year-old DAP chairman and former finance minister is also accused of accepting RM3.3 million in kickbacks. A purported RM2 million paid on Aug 18, 2017, via businessman G Gnanaraja, is said to be part of the RM3.3 million.
Guan Eng also faces two counts of dishonest misappropriation of property in releasing two plots of state-owned land, cumulatively worth RM208.75 million, to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd and Zenith Urban Development — two property companies linked to the controversial undersea tunnel project.
The prosecution is led by deputy public prosecutors Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin and Mahadi Abdul Jumaat.
The trial before Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi continues on Friday.