KUALA LUMPUR – A former director of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd told the sessions court here today that he did not lie under oath while testifying in Lim Guan Eng’s corruption case.
Ibrahim Sahari, 59, was responding to Lim’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who was cross-examining him on the inconsistencies of his witness statements between two different sessions courts, one in Shah Alam and the other in Kuala Lumpur.
The issue was raised by Gobind because while testifying in businessman G. Gnanaraja’s cheating case at the Shah Alam sessions court, Ibrahim said that Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, a fellow former director of Consortium Zenith, had told him of being cheated by Gnanaraja, who asked him for RM19 million.
Gnanaraja allegedly demanded RM19 million as an inducement to help close the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) money-laundering case against Zarul Ahmad.
During proceedings in the sessions court here on June 28, 2022, Ibrahim told the court that Zarul Ahmad had confessed to him and the MACC that he made a payment to Lim after being freed by the agency.
Ibrahim also admitted to falsifying invoices and vouchers, for funds that were later purportedly used to bribe Lim.
Earlier, during cross-examination by Tiara Katrina Fuad, who is also representing Lim, Ibrahim agreed with his statement in the Shah Alam court that the RM19 million given to Gnanaraja was for helping to close the money-laundering case against Zarul Ahmad.
During examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Abdul last Friday, Ibrahim said his Shah Alam court statement differed from the one in the sessions court here because they involved different charges and individuals.
Lim, 62, is facing an amended charge of using his position as the then Penang chief minister to accept a bribe of RM3.3 million to help a company owned by Zarul Ahmad obtain a construction project worth RM6,341,383,702 billion at the Office of the Chief Minister of Penang, 28th Floor, Komtar, GeorgeTown between January 2011 and August 2017.
On the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe from Zarul Ahmad, namely 10% of the company’s profits, as an inducement for obtaining the project, allegedly committing the act near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here on March 2011.
He is also facing two charges of disposing of two plots of land worth RM208.8 million owned by the Penang government to companies allegedly linked to the undersea tunnel project.
The hearing before judge Azura Alwi resumes on October 23. – September 18, 2023