KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court today heard that a witness had all of a sudden implicated former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng in a corruption case in the Shah Alam court.
The evidence came more than a year after former Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli was first probed and had his statements recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in 2018.
Zarul said he had never mentioned Lim's name during the four times he was probed by the anti-graft agency on Jan 19, Jan 20, March 9 and Sept 5 in 2018, on a cheating case linked to M. G. Gnanaraja at the Shah Alam Court.
The 65-year-old admitted to the court that he had for the first time mentioned Lim's name and that there was some money for him to the MACC.
Zarul said this happened when he was called up again by MACC to have his statement recorded on Dec 9, 2019.
He agreed with defence counsel, RSN Rayer, who suggested to him that the sole reason for him to name Lim during the investigations was because of the evidence submitted by former CZBUGC director Ibrahim Sahari during the trial of the cheating case.
Zarul said while waiting at the court's witness room during the trial, he had read Ibrahim's statement which was placed on a table and that had caused him to then implicate Lim.
Rayer: As of Sept 5, 2018, your statement said that RM19 million was handed over to Gnanaraja to be given to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, am I right?
Zarul: Yes.
Rayer: So after reading Ibrahim's statement, you suddenly made the decision to change your statement?
Zarul: Yes.
Rayer: You did not say the full name. It is just Ibrahim.
Zarul: Yes
Rayer: But you only gave a one liner. There are no other details and we do not know who Ibrahim is. You never gave the full name or state if the statement was made in or out of court. It is likely that you changed your statement because you believe Ibrahim's evidence and that is what you are asking the court to believe.
Asked if he had other intentions before he gave his statement to MACC on Dec 9, Zarul said he cannot remember.
He said he was not asked by the MACC to submit any documents related to asset declarations or anti-money laundering.
Zarul was testifying in the proceedings to challenge his credibility over his contradictory statements in court over Lim's on-going undersea tunnel corruption trial.
Zarul told the court that he was exhausted and under pressure after he was remanded for 11 days in connection with the undersea tunnel investigation before he was hauled up several times by the MACC for Gnanaraja's case.
He said he was subjected to up to 14-hours of questioning on some days.
"I did not need to tell my friends about the pressure I was facing. They know. For two months I did not leave my house.
"I also have anxiety disorder and my condition worsened," he added.
During today's proceedings, deputy public prosecutors Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin and Mahadi Abdul Jumaat prosecuted.
The trial before judge Azura Alwi resumes on April 1.
On Oct 19, 2022, Mahadi said the investigation paper of the RM19 million cheating case linked to Gnanaraja had been classified as 'no further action'.
Lim is facing four charges of using his position as the then chief minister to solicit gratification to help Zarul's company to secure the tunnel project.
He was alleged to have sought a 10 per cent of the profit to be made by the company from Zarul.
He was also accused of receiving RM3.3 million for himself and causing two plots of land belonging to the state government to be disposed of to two companies linked to the tunnel project.