Gnanaraja sent 'Fantastic Dato' text over RM2m to Guan Eng: Witness

Businessperson G Gnanaraja allegedly texted “Fantastic Dato” upon learning he was chosen by Lim Guan Eng to be a middle person to hand a RM2 million bribe to the then Penang chief minister seven years ago.

Star prosecution witness and businessperson Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli today testified about Gnanaraja’s purported WhatsApp message on Aug 17, 2017.

The Consortium Zenith Construction director was replying to questions from deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin over a purported WhatsApp message sent to the witness by Gnanaraja.

Consortium Zenith Construction was the company awarded the contract for the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project. The ongoing graft case against Lim is linked to the project.

Wan Shaharuddin: The message ‘Fantastic Dato. Penang CM done ah Dato,’ whose message was it?

Zarul: It was a message from Gnanaraja.

Wan Shaharuddin: Why did he say that?

Zarul: Gnanaraja was awaiting Lim Guan Eng’s decision on whether to use Gnanaraja as a middle person.

Zarul (above) said that Gnanaraja’s choice of words was due to the latter being given the opportunity to be on good terms with Lim.

The Consortium Zenith Construction director claimed that he needed a middle person to channel the bribe to Lim due to MACC then monitoring the witness.

Zarul was explaining Gnanaraja’s reaction to the outcome of the meeting between the witness and Lim.

Zarul was referring to an alleged earlier meeting with Lim on whether Gnanaraja should act as a middleman to funnel an RM2 million bribe to the then-Penang chief minister.

Alleged agreement

The Consortium Zenith Construction director testified that Lim allegedly agreed to the middle person’s suggestion during a meeting on Aug 17, 2017.

“I told Lim that I recommended Gnanaraja to be appointed as the middle person for the money for Lim because I told him that Gnanaraja was a BN man who was on good terms with the then prime minister, and I felt that he (Gnanaraja) was the most qualified person to be middle person,” Zarul testified.

Zarul alleged that Lim replied in agreement and that the then-Penang chief minister would go to Kuala Lumpur to meet Gnanaraja.

Today is the ongoing Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court hearing of Lim’s bid to impeach Zarul's credibility as a key prosecution witness.

Both Zarul and Gnanaraja are key witnesses for the prosecution in Lim's ongoing corruption trial linked to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

Questionable questioning

During today’s hearing, the atmosphere heated up several times when defence counsel Haijan Omar raised objections over Wan Shaharuddin’s line of questioning to Zarul.

Haijan contended that the prosecution’s questions were leading and went against the Evidence Act 1950.

Trial judge Azura Alwi then ordered prosecutors to rephrase the line of questioning to avoid being leading in nature.

Lim’s defence team contended that Zarul’s testimony could not be trusted as the witness allegedly gave a differing version of events in a separate criminal court case at Shah Alam.

Impeachment proceedings before Azura resumes on Oct 2.

Four charges

Lim is on trial over four corruption charges involving the planned construction of Penang’s undersea tunnel and paired roads project connecting the island to the mainland.

He is accused of abusing his power as then-Penang chief minister for the first charge to obtain RM3.3 million in monetary gratification as an inducement to appoint Zarul’s company to implement the project worth RM6,341,383,702.

The Bagan MP allegedly committed the offence between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office.

On the second charge, Lim allegedly asked Zarul for 10 percent of profits as a reward for helping his company secure the project.

He is purported to have committed the offence at The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, in Kuala Lumpur, between 12.30am and 2am in March 2011.

He also faces two counts of dishonestly disposing of two plots of land belonging to the Penang government in Bandar Tanjong Pinang worth RM208 million to the developer of the tunnel project, which allegedly took place at the State Land and Mines Office in Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017.

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