Guan Eng received RM100k bribe with a smile, claims company exec

Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd senior executive director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli testified that Lim Guan Eng smiled as he handed a RM100,000 bribe to the then Penang chief minister in 2013.

The 23rd prosecution witness claimed that the accused also seemed happy when the former handed another RM100,000 in bribes to the latter in 2014.

Zarul was testifying during today’s corruption trial against former finance minister Lim in relation to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

During examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, the witness claimed the payments were linked to Lim purportedly asking for 10 percent of profit from the project in return for the project to be awarded to the former’s (witness) company via direct negotiation.

Zarul claimed he handed both bribes enclosed in envelopes to Lim at the chief minister's office at Komtar in George Town, Penang.

In the trial before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Dec 17 last year, Zarul testified he was “shocked” when Lim allegedly asked for 10 percent of future profits from the project.

The witness claimed the accused asked this from him while they were in a car in Kuala Lumpur on a night in March 2011.

[More to follow] - Mkini