[UPDATED] Chocolate for big boss: firm director claims Guan Eng took RM3.3 mil bribe

KUALA LUMPUR – Then Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng received “chocolate” – a euphemism for cash – from Consortium Zenith Beijing Urban Construction Group Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, it was alleged today.

Zarul told the sessions court here that he gave RM3.3 million to Lim to help the company secure the three paired roads and undersea tunnel project in Penang.

He said the payments were subject to two conditions: that he be awarded the project and that it would be paid as soon as payment was approved.

“This was all a part of the demand of 10% of the project’s profits. If the project was not awarded to me, of course, I would not pay,” he said when reading his testimony during the examination by deputy public prosecutor Farah Yasmin Salleh at Lim’s corruption trial today.

Zarul said businessman Gnanaraja Gnanasundram acted as a “middleman” when on August 17, 2017, he wanted to give Lim RM2 million in cash out of the RM3.3 million total.

“I told Gnanaraja via WhatsApp I want to hand over ‘chocolate’ to him to be given to ‘big boss’...chocolate here means cash,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini in his testimony at the sessions court here today.

The court heard that the cash was put in two sports bags and placed in Gnanaraja’s luxury car at Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya, on August 18.

Zarul said two days later that he and Gnanaraja took one bag and picked Lim up at Wentworth Hotel here before dropping him off at a mall.

He added that before Lim exited the car, he patted his shoulder as a thank you gesture and was sure that Lim took the bag filled with cash.

He then said the second bag was given to Lim by Gnanaraja on August 28.

Zarul said Lim asked for RM2 million as he expected that elections would be held soon at that time and if he had failed to provide the money, he feared Lim would disturb his project in the future. 

Meanwhile, Zarul said he was introduced to Gnanaraja by Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and that the businessman was a “close associate” of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

He added that he had also given Lim RM1 million in January, April and May 2016 including in conjunction with Chinese New Year, and that the money constituted the 10% cut from the project’s profits.

The witness also said that around December 2014, he had given Lim RM100,000 during his birthday and yesterday he told the court that he gave RM200,000 to Lim in 2013 and 2014.

Zarul added that he was cooperating with the MACC not because of politics but after the agency shared with him several facts showing that he was merely being used as a tool by Lim.

“If I was not called by the MACC to provide a statement, then this would not have come to light and I would not have exposed anything about YB Lim and my misconduct. The MACC had continued their investigation, which was a continuation of what they investigated in early 2018.

“The MACC investigation this time exposed findings that led to my full disclosure. A large withdrawal was found and they asked me about it. To avoid action being taken against Azli Adam and I, I decided to speak in more detail about other payments made to YB Lim,” he said.

The trial resumes on Monday.

In 2019, Gnanaraja was charged with three counts of cheating involving RM19 million related to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

He was also slapped with 68 money-laundering charges involving RM11.4 million in the same year, and lost his “Datuk Seri” title.

Lim is facing an amended charge of using his position as Penang chief minister at that time to receive a bribe of RM3.3 million for helping the company owned by Zarul to obtain a construction project worth RM6,341,383,702. The offence was allegedly committed at the Penang chief minister’s office, 28th floor, Komtar, George Town between January 2011 and August 2017.

For the second amended charge, he is alleged to have solicited from Zarul 10% of the profit to be gained by the company in exchange for the firm obtaining the project. Lim is accused of committing this offence near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, here, in March 2011.

Lim is also facing two other charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8 million belonging to the Penang government to be disposed of to two companies claimed to be linked to the undersea tunnel project.

He is charged with committing the offences at the Penang Land and Mines Department, 21st floor, Komtar on February 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017. – The Vibes, June 24, 2022