THE main prosecution witness in the Penang road and undersea tunnel construction project corruption case involving Lim Guan Eng, insisted that he had no intention or motive to accuse the former chief minister until he was charged in court.
Businessman, Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja who is also the 37th prosecution witness said that such an accusation was unreasonable because Guan Eng was not his enemy and the DAP advisor had never done anything bad to him.
According to Gnanaraja, if he had a tendency to deceive as alleged by the defence, he would have stated that the four bags of money given by the former Director of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB), Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, were for Guan Eng.
"But I have no intention of accusing Guan Eng with a motive of fraud...I have admitted from the beginning to have taken RM19 million.
"If I don't confess, that would be a lie, here I am telling you what I took and I also confess what I gave to Guan Eng," he said.
Gnanaraja said this when answering re-examination questions by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin at the corruption trial.
On August 27 last year, Gnanaraja told the court that he himself handed over two black bags containing RM2 million to Guan Eng after receiving them from Zarul Ahmad at the Eastin Hotel in Petaling Jaya on August 18, 2017.
Meanwhile, Gnanaraja denied that he lied in his statement regarding Guan Eng's arrival at his house at 3am.
According to Gnanaraja, no one had ever come to his house at that time even though he had friends who were ministers.
"Only Lim Guan Eng," he said.
Wan Shaharuddin: You agree with the lawyer that Lim Guan Eng's arrival at your house at 3am is unreasonable, can you explain why you agree?
Gnanaraja: I agree with the lawyer that it is not reasonable because it is not credible or acceptable for a person of the rank of Chief Minister to come to my house at 3 am.
Gnanaraja said he also disagreed with the claim that he had made a deal with the prosecution to be a witness in the corruption case to get a lower charge for the case he was facing in Shah Alam.
"Initially in the Shah Alam case I did not deny receiving money from Zarul Ahmad, I just wanted to tell who I gave the rest (money). This is how my involvement in this case began," he said.
On April 3, 2019, Gnanaraja pleaded not guilty in the Shah Alam Sessions Court to three charges of defrauding Zarul Ahmad involving RM19 million.
He was charged with deceiving Zarul Ahmad into believing that he could help close the investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against him.
However, the case was later classified as no further action (NFA).
After Gnanaraja finished giving his evidence, the proceedings continued with the hearing of the prosecution's application to amend the first charge against Guan Eng.
Judge Azura Alwi then set May 6 for the verdict and to continue the trial.
Gnanaraja gave evidence against Guan Eng, who was allegedly the Chief Minister of Penang at the time, for using his position to receive RM3.3 million.
This was by helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad to be appointed to implement the Main Road and Tunnel Construction Project in Penang worth RM6.3 billion between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister's Office.
The Bagan MP was also charged with asking for a bribe of 10 percent of the profits to be obtained from Zarul Ahmad as a reward for helping the businessman's company be appointed for the same project.
The offence was allegedly committed near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here between 12.30 midnight and 2am in March 2011.
He also faces two charges of causing two lots of land owned by the Penang Government worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to a developer company in connection with an undersea tunnel project in the state.
The offence was allegedly committed at the Penang State Land and Mines Office, Komtar on February 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017. – April 21, 2026
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