My Company Was Used To Facilitate Bribes To Lim Guan Eng, Says Key Witness
Businessman G. Gnanaraja, 44, testified that Lim had instructed him to set up a company, Bumi Muhibah Capital Holding Sdn Bhd, and open a bank account for it. The company was incorporated on Aug 10, 2016, and in August 2017, he used it to facilitate bribe payments to Lim.
"All instructions to establish the company and open the account were given by Lim while we were in a car en route to Publika on Aug 20, 2017. The company held a CIMB Bank account at the CIMB KLCC branch.
"I had full access to the account as I was the sole authorised individual to withdraw funds," he said while reading his witness statement during the trial involving the Penang road and undersea tunnel project.
The 37th prosecution witness added that he became acquainted with Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, then Director of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB), around May 2017. Between Aug 10 and 19, 2017, they communicated regarding Gnanaraja acting as the intermediary between Zarul Ahmad and Lim.
Gnanaraja testified that Datuk Zarul selected him as an intermediary to deliver cash to Lim based on trust and the fact that he was not affiliated with any opposition party at the time.
He further stated that during a meeting at Hotel Impiana in Ipoh on Aug 18, 2017, he and Zarul discussed a sum of RM2 million that Zarul intended to hand over to Lim.
"Later that day, around 5 pm, while I was at home, Datuk Zarul called and asked to meet him at Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya at 6 pm. Upon arrival, Datuk Zarul exited his vehicle, retrieved two dark-coloured bags and placed them in the boot of my car.
"I understood the bags contained cash as Datuk Zarul said '1M' while placing the first bag and '1M' again with the second. By '1M', I understood him to mean one million ringgit," he said.
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