KUALA LUMPUR – Lim Guan Eng’s corruption trial has been adjourned to tomorrow after prosecution witness Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli pleaded for a break due to health issues.
He told sessions court judge Azura Alwi that he has high blood pressure and palpitations, and needed a breather from the cross-examination, reported Malaysiakini.
Today, defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo has been “grilling” Zarul over the RM19 million he purportedly gave to disgraced businessman G Gnanaraja so the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project could proceed without a hitch.
Zarul today said he went for a medical check-up yesterday and was told to go see a specialist. Later during the proceedings, the prosecution submitted to the court a letter from Zarul’s doctor on his health status.
Yesterday, Zarul admitted that one of the reasons he paid Gnanaraja RM19 million was that he (Zarul) was threatened to be charged under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla).
When questioned by Gobind, Zarul said he lodged a complaint to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) about the threat when he was detained by the commission for 11 days in January 2018.
Lim, 61, is charged with using his position as the then Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3 million in bribes as an inducement to assist Zarul to secure the project worth RM6,341,383,702.
Lim allegedly committed the offence at the Penang chief minister’s office, Level 28, Komtar, George Town, between January 2011 and August 2017.
He is also accused of soliciting a 10% bribe of the profit from the company as gratification to secure the project in March 2011.
Lim, a former DAP secretary-general, is facing two other charges of causing two plots of land (belonging to the Penang government) worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to two companies linked to the state’s undersea tunnel project. – The Vibes, August 9, 2022
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