KUALA LUMPUR: A key prosecution witness in Lim Guan Eng's ongoing corruption trial was questioned on why he had omitted from his testimony the presence of his bodyguard during the handover of a large sum of money to a businessman in 2017.
Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli had a heated exchange with Lim's counsel over the omission.
In the statement recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Zarul Ahmad had said that his bodyguard Saifuddin had lifted bags containing cash to his car for it to be delivered to businessman G. Gnanaraja.
Zarul Ahmad admitted that he made no mention of Saifuddin, an important eyewitness to the case, when giving his testimony.
He told the Sessions Court that the statement he gave to the MACC in a previous case in the Shah Alam Sessions Court was different from his testimony in this court because the statement was made after an 11-day detention and intensive questioning by the MACC during the investigation in January 2018.
He said this when questioned by lead defence counsel Haijan Omar during an impeachment proceeding involving his conflicting statements with the MACC for the current trial and in a previous cheating case in Shah Alam involving Gnanaraja.
Haijan pointed out that Zarul Ahmad's statement mentioning that his bodyguard Saifuddin had placed a bag containing RM2mil in the car was used in the Shah Alam case.
However, in the present case, he pointed out that Zarul Ahmad had claimed that the money was given to Lim.
Zarul Ahmad said that Saifuddin is an Indonesian and he believed the latter is currently somewhere in that country.
He also said he did not tell Saifuddin much.
Haijan then suggested to Zarul Ahmad that he had intentionally concealed Saifuddin's involvement in this case, to which the latter replied, "If he (Saifuddin were to) come here (to testify), (it would be) even worse for you (the defence)."
Haijan: Why do you say it's going to be worse for us?
Zarul Ahmad: I don't know.
During questioning by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Zarul Ahmad said the discrepancy between his previous statement and his testimony in this court was because he was not in the "right mind" following an 11-day detention and extensive questioning by the MACC.
He tearfully recalled that he was first handcuffed in public, which made him feel "like a murderer."
"I was under remand for 11 days, I slept on the cement floor, I had a slipped disc, and I was emotional."
After his release, he said his wife held a kenduri but he was summoned by the MACC for questioning in March 2018, so he could not attend the event.
"I was interrogated for 14 hours. How could I have a clear mind?" he added.
He said he tried to inform the MACC about the graft claims against Lim during questioning, but the officers had told him to separate the cases involving Gnanaraja and Lim.
The trial before judge Azura Alwi resumes on Aug 26.
Lim, 63, is facing an amended charge of using his position as then Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3mil in bribes as an inducement to assist Zarul Ahmad in securing the undersea tunnel 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.
In the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe of 10% of the profit from the company as gratification to secure the project.
The offence was allegedly committed near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here, in March 2011.
Lim, who is DAP chairman and Bagan MP, faces two further charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8mil, belonging to the Penang government, to be disposed of to two companies linked to the state’s undersea tunnel project.
