KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): A key witness to Lim Guan Eng’s Penang undersea trial told the Sessions Court on Wednesday that he had kept a portion of the RM79 million obtained from the late businessman Datuk Ewe Swee Kheng in a safe, after obtaining the sum following a land swap in 2016.
Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd’s (CZBUCG) former director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said he disagreed with Lim’s lawyers that he (Zarul Ahmad) did not have any money in the safe, as he had received sums from Ewe since 2013 until 2017, after the land Lot 702 was given to the company in 2016.
“At that time, I already received a sum of RM79 million from Ewe, following the sale of Lot 702 to him. My company has been receiving payments from Ewe since 2013 to 2017.
“I cashed a portion of the sum and kept it in the safe at my office, so as to prepare for any emergency as required by my associate. As the general election is not far away, the sum could be used as a contribution to those who supported me,” Zarul Ahmad said.
He was responding to a question by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Mahadi Abdul Jumaat during re-examination. The DPP had asked the 23rd prosecution witness as to why he disagreed with Lim’s lawyers, who had suggested that there was no money in the safe.
Zarul Ahmad had previously testified that he had taken RM2 million from the safe and another RM2 million from his company via a cheque to give to businessman G Gnanaraja.
It was Lim’s defence team’s contention that it was only RM2 million that was given by Zarul Ahmad to Gnanaraja, for the money to be given to “big boss” — allegedly the then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. However, Zarul Ahmad said the additional RM2 million retrieved from his safe was given to Lim.
It is the prosecution’s contention that the RM2 million given to Gnanaraja was passed to Lim, and this was part of the RM3.3 million graft money which the former Penang chief minister allegedly received in kickbacks, as part of the charges he is facing in this trial.
Ewe, who was slated to be a witness in this trial, died in October 2021.
Money in safe was not recorded and not seized by MACC, claims witness
Zarul Ahmad also said that although the money in the safe was not recorded, there was money kept in the safe, as was revealed in his (Zarul Ahmad) witness statement when testifying during the examination-in-chief.
“The (cash) money is there in the safe, and that sum (RM79 million) could not be finished,” he said, referring to the time period of 2017.
He added that when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) raided his office in 2017, they did not seize the money which was kept in the safe.
Zarul Ahmad said the authorities only seized the documents that were needed with regard to the deal.
The witness also told the court that a sum of RM19 million was paid to Gnanaraja, to seek his assistance to get help from Najib to close the MACC investigations of money laundering on him (Zarul Ahmad).
“I did not want the MACC investigations to pinpoint [on] Lim. I was afraid that the money given [will be] exposed and this [was] to save myself (from prosecution), and at the same time, protect Lim as I am indebted to him,” the witness replied to Mahadi.
In reply to the prosecution’s question, Zarul Ahmad agreed that he had denied to Gnanaraja that he (Zarul Ahmad) had kept slush funds for Lim, as he had only known Gnanaraja then and had to be cautious in revealing all.
“Hence, I did not inform him (Gnanaraja) that I [had] a slush fund,” Zarul Ahmad added.
My company was offered toll concession
Earlier, Zarul Ahmad maintained that CZBUCG had a clear advantage compared to other companies for the project, as it had attended various briefings from the Penang government that were not attended by the other companies.
Zarul Ahmad said that he disagreed with the defence’s contention that he was angry at Lim for getting a smaller land size in the land swap deal as payment for the Penang undersea project, and also that the project was offered at a reduced price, from RM10 billion as slated in the first memorandum of understanding in 2011, to RM6.3 billion.
“My company had been offered the toll concession for the project. Hence, the loss (from the smaller land and revenue) would be compensated by this (toll concession),” he said.
Counsels Mohd Haijan Omar and RSN Rayer appeared for Lim.
Lim is on trial where he is accused of abusing his position as the then-Penang chief minister to solicit a 10% cut from the project's profit from Zarul Ahmad, in return for securing the project for Zarul's company.
Lim is also accused of accepting RM3.3 million in kickbacks from Zarul Ahmad, who had also previously testified that Gnanaraja was involved in delivering the kickbacks to Lim.
Additionally, Lim faces two counts of dishonest misappropriation of property for releasing two plots of state-owned land to Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd and Zenith Urban Development Sdn Bhd — two companies linked to the same undersea tunnel project.
The hearing before Azura continues on May 27.