Lim Guan Eng’s Decision To Award Penang Undersea Tunnel Project Was Hasty - Witness

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer told the Sessions Court today that Lim Guan Eng’s decision to appoint Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) for the Penang undersea tunnel and major roads project was hasty and driven by personal interest.

Senior Enforcement Officer from the MACC Investigation Division at its Putrajaya headquarters, Zulhilmi Ramli, 33, said the former Penang chief minister’s actions from the start indicated a lack of transparency and intent to bypass an open tender process.

“Based on the investigation, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Penang government and the China-based BUCG on March 17, 2011, to address traffic congestion issues in Penang, was effectively a direct award to the company to be involved in the project.

“The MoU was clearly not a licence for BUCG or its representatives to be involved in preparing the Request for Proposal. I took into account the existence of this MoU together with the testimony of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli at the time regarding Lim’s promise to award the project directly to BUCG. The MoU also did not state that the project would be carried out through an open tender,” he said.

The prosecution’s 38th witness said this while reading his statement during Lim’s corruption trial over the Penang undersea tunnel and highway project.

Zulhilmi, who got involved in the case investigation around 2020, said his probe revealed another MoU dated April 28, 2011, in which Lim signed an agreement between the state government and BUCG to develop proposals to resolve Penang’s traffic problems.

“The MoU stated that BUCG was invited to submit a proposal for road construction works worth an estimated RM10 billion. Photos were taken during the MoU signing ceremony,” he said, adding that this MoU clearly contradicted the state executive council’s decision on April 27, 2011, which had agreed the project would proceed via open tender.

He also testified that, based on the statements he received during the investigation, in early March 2011, Zarul Ahmad met the accused at a restaurant in Jalan Ampang, and after dinner, around 11.45 pm, drove Lim to The Gardens Hotel in Mid Valley.

“During the journey, around midnight, the accused proposed arranging an MoU between BUCG and the Penang government, and if Zarul Ahmad could organise the MoU ceremony, the tunnel project would be awarded to the latter through direct negotiation.

“After saying that, the accused requested 10 per cent of the project’s profits from Zarul Ahmad, who agreed,” said Zulhilmi, adding that the project, however, was meant to mislead the public and amounted to a ‘land scam’.

Meanwhile, Lim’s defence lawyers Ramkarpal Singh and RSN Rayer requested that parts of the witness statement be struck out on grounds that they were opinion-based rather than factual.

Judge Azura Alwi then directed the defence to list the relevant statements before hearing arguments from both sides once the witness concluded his testimony.

According to the first amended charge, Lim, 64, as the then Penang chief minister, was accused of using his position to receive RM3.3 million by helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad secure the RM6.34 billion Penang undersea tunnel and highway project between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Chief Minister’s Office in Penang.

Under the second amended charge, the Bagan MP was accused of soliciting 10 per cent of the project’s profits from Zarul Ahmad as a reward for assisting his company in obtaining the same project near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, here, between 12.30 am and 2 am in March 2011.

He also faces two other charges of causing two plots of state land worth RM208.8 million to be disposed of to a developer linked to the undersea tunnel project at the Penang Land and Mines Office in Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017.

The trial continues tomorrow.

-- BERNAMA