FROM THE MACC FILES Part 5: Zarul Paid A RM22 Million Bribe To Close The Investigation On The Penang Undersea Tunnel

In his statement to the MACC, Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli admitted paying Gnanaraja Gnanasundram, an Air Asia director, RM19 million as a bribe to get the MACC to close the file on the Penang Undersea Tunnel corruption case, plus another RM3 million to a second person. In total he paid RM22 million to ‘settle’ the MACC investigation.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Gnanaraja Gnanasundram, a known ‘runner’ for Lim Guan Eng

In his statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli admitted paying Gnanaraja a/l M. Gnanasundram, an Air Asia director, RM19 million as a bribe to get the MACC to close the file on the Penang Undersea Tunnel corruption case, plus another RM3 million to a second person. In total he paid RM22 million to ‘settle’ the MACC investigation.

Zarul later claims he was conned by Gnanaraja, a Lim Guan Eng crony, and says he was duped into paying the bribe. Nevertheless, Zarul admits he did pay the bribe to get the case closed and for the file to be marked NFA (no further action).

The fact remains the RM22 million bribe was paid to the two people, one of them a Guan Eng crony, whether under false pretences or not.

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Zenith claims conned in RM22m Penang undersea tunnel graft case

(Edge Prop, 2 July 2018) – Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd’s (CZC) senior executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said the company was duped into paying off two individuals who claimed to have high-level connections within the authorities, reported the Malay Mail.

The individuals had threatened CZC, saying actions will be taken against company if they did not meet their demands. “It is like putting a gun to our head. We were conned into it in that sense,” he told the portal.

Confirming that the amount was paid out to the individuals, Zarul Ahmad however declined to reveal more as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is investigating the case, only saying that the company had complied with the law.

He added the company had met with the Penang state government two weeks ago to explain why it paid the RM22 million and the state was satisfied with its explanations.

The MACC had begun investigating the proposed RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project in 2016 and resumed its investigations this year, notably arresting several people including a “Datuk Seri” who had purportedly received RM19 million from CZC to halt the commission’s probe against the company.

Gnanaraja Gnanasundram helped Guan Eng to get the MACC to drop the investigation into the Penang Undersea Tunnel and mark the file as NFA (no further action)