KUALA LUMPUR: A senior Penang government official told the sessions court in Lim Guan Eng’s undersea tunnel corruption trial that there was a conflict of interest on the part of the contractor who sat in meetings with state officers in preparing documents before an open tender for the project was called.
Muhamad Azrai Mohamad Zaini, who was with the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), said it was not proper for Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd’s representatives to sit with them to provide suggestions on preparing the request for proposal (RFP) papers.
“The advantage they had was that they knew about the scope of work and other details much earlier than other companies who would be bidding for the project later,” he told deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharudin Wan Ladin.
Azrai was giving details of a meeting between Beijing Urban Construction Group’s (BUCG) representatives – Ahmad Zarul Mohd Zulkifli, Ee Chin Fatt and Lee Chee Hoe – and officers from state government agencies on July 11, 2011.
The Chinese-owned BUCG previously held a 10% share and RM541 million in paid-up capital in the joint venture vehicle Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd.
It applied to be removed as one of the three partners in the larger Consortium Zenith BUCG in September 2016 following a fatal crane accident.
He said he was asked by his former boss, then state executive councillor Lim Hock Seng, to attend the meeting.
“This meeting was the third between the state and BUCG on preparing a request for proposal (RFP) over the tunnel and roads project,” he said.
During the meeting, he said, Rajendran Anthony from the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) asked for the drafting of RFP papers to be improved.
“Rajendran also asked the BUCG representatives to provide a detailed explanation over matters like making profits through toll collections and land reclamation,” he said.
Rajendran also asked BUCG for a copy of the RPF report on their MRT project.
Azrai said that besides the July 11, 2011 meeting, BUCG representatives met the state government officials in two other meetings – May 10 and 19) – that year.
Asked by Wan Shaharudin if he reported the said “conflict of interest” to his superiors and other senior officers sitting in a committee to evaluate companies vying for the job, Azrai said he did not do so.
“I was a junior officer and I did not have much experience. I was of the view there was no need to report to the committee chairman (Mokhtar Jait),” he said.
Cross-examined by Lim’s lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo, on whether he was aware that two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) had been inked earlier between the Penang government and Consortium Zenith, Azrai said he only knew of one of them, was signed in April 2011.
“It was signed in Putrajaya and the former prime minister as well as the former Chinese premier witnessed the ceremony,” he said.
The court previously heard another MoU between the two parties had been signed on March 17, 2011.
Gobind: Do you agree that the three meetings (from May 10 to July 11, 2011) were follow-ups from what transpired from both MoUs?
Azrai: Yes.
Gobind suggested that during the three meetings, Consortium Zenith’s representatives merely gave their suggestions on preparing the RFP draft.
“They do not know what would be the contents of the final RPF. It was only the excos (executive councillors) who decide. Thus, they were not in an advantaged position,” he said.
Azrai said Consortium Zenith knew the contents they suggested in the RFP, but was cut off by Gobind before he could explain further.
Judge Azura Alwi then asked the lawyer to slow down on his cross-examination.
Gobind again asked Azrai on the RFP draft, suggesting that it was the exco members who approved the final version.
“Consortium Zenith wouldn’t know what was included or otherwise, in the final version,” the lawyer added.
Azrai agreed with the defence’s suggestion after being repeatedly questioned.
Lim is accused of using his position as then Penang chief minister to ask Zarul for a 10% cut of the profits which would be made from the roads and tunnel project.
The former finance minister is also accused of seeking RM3.3 million in kickbacks to appoint Zarul’s company to undertake the project.
Lim also faces two counts of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land to two companies.
The RM6.3 billion project, comprising an undersea tunnel and three roads, was mooted by the state government to alleviate the traffic jam on Penang bridge.
The hearing continues on Sept 10. - FMT
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