Undersea tunnel case: Investigating officer denies ‘blacking out’ facts

KUALA LUMPUR: A witness in the undersea tunnel case involving Lim Guan Eng at the Sessions Court on Monday (Aug 28) denied that he had ‘blacked out’ the facts in a WhatsApp conversation that referred to the ‘big boss’ in order to have the former Penang chief minister prosecuted on corruption charges.

The investigating officer from the Forensic Department of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Yusof also denied that he was specifically instructed not to include facts in the forensic report on the ‘big boss’, so that Lim would face false charges.

The word ‘big boss’ was included in a forensic report involving a WhatsApp conversation between businessman G. Gnanaraja and Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli.

However, the eighth prosecution witness disagreed with the suggestion of lawyer Gobind Singh Deo who represented Lim, that the concealment of the facts was ‘a clear cut to fix Lim up’.

In the previous hearing, the court was told that the WhatsApp conversation between Gnanaraja and Zarul Ahmad mentioned, among other things, the RM2mil ‘chocolate’ gift for the ‘big boss’.

When cross-examining the witness, Gobind said part of the conversation between Gnanaraja and Zarul Ahmad which was allegedly ‘blacked out’ by Wan Mohd Firdaus was the message ‘had a good birthday cutting cake with big boss’ at 9.41am, July 23, 2017.

Gobind: You know whose birthday is July 23? It’s not my client’s birthday.

Wan Mohd Firdaus: I don’t know.

Gobind: I put it to you that July 23 is Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s birthday.

Wan Mohd Firdaus: I don’t know.

The witness also disagreed with Gobind’s suggestion that he was instructed not to bring the original report (which was given to the Shah Alam Court) with the aim of obscuring the facts about the ‘big boss’ at the Lim case trial.

Lim is facing an amended charge of using his position as the then Penang chief minister to accept a bribe of RM3.3mil in helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad to obtain a construction project worth RM6,341,383,702 at the Office of the Chief Minister of Penang, 28th floor, Komtar, George Town between January 2011 and Aug 2017.

On the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting a bribe from Zarul Ahmad, namely 10 per cent of the company’s profits, as an inducement for obtaining the project and is accused of committing the act near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here in March 2011.

He is also facing two charges of causing two plots of land worth RM208.8mil owned by the Penang government to be disposed of to companies allegedly linked to the undersea tunnel project.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office, 21st Floor, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015, and March 22, 2017.

The trial before Judge Azura Alwi continues on Sept 18.- BK