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A KEY prosecution witness in the corruption trial involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has denied having any motive or intention to falsely implicate the senior politician, telling the court that such allegations were unreasonable.
Businessman Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja (pic), the 37th prosecution witness of the trial, today said Lim was neither his enemy nor someone who had ever wronged him, rejecting suggestions by the defence that he had fabricated evidence.
He told the court that if he had intended to deceive, he could have claimed that the RM19 million he received from Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, former director of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, was meant entirely for Lim.
“But I had no intention of framing Guan Eng with any fraudulent motive… from the very beginning I admitted taking RM19 million.
“If I had not admitted it, that would have been deception. Here, I state what I took and I also admit what I gave to Guan Eng,” he said during re-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.
Gnanaraja reiterated earlier testimony that he personally handed over two black bags containing RM2 million in cash to Lim after receiving the money from Zarul Ahmad at a hotel in Petaling Jaya on 18 August 2017.
He also denied fabricating claims about Lim visiting his house at 3am, maintaining that no one else, including acquaintances holding ministerial rank, had ever come to his residence at such an hour.
“Only Lim Guan Eng,” he said.
When questioned about agreeing with defence counsel that such a visit was implausible, Gnanaraja said he concurred that it seemed unlikely for a chief minister to appear at his home at that hour, but maintained that the event nevertheless occurred.
He further rejected claims that he had struck any deal with prosecutors to testify in exchange for leniency in a separate case he had faced in Shah Alam.
“At the beginning in the Shah Alam case, I did not deny receiving money from Zarul Ahmad, I only wanted to state where the remaining money was given. That is how my involvement in this case began,” he said.
Gnanaraja had previously pleaded not guilty on 3 April 2019 at the Shah Alam Sessions Court to three charges of cheating Zarul Ahmad involving RM19 million, allegedly by convincing him he could help halt investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. The case was later classified as no further action.
Following the completion of his testimony, proceedings continued with the prosecution’s application to amend the first charge against Lim. High Court judge Azura Alwi fixed 6 May for a decision and further trial proceedings.
Lim, who was chief minister of Penang at the time, is accused of using his position to receive RM3.3 million in connection with the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel and major roads project, allegedly in return for assisting Zarul Ahmad’s company in securing the contract between January 2011 and August 2017.
The Bagan Member of Parliament also faces a charge of soliciting a bribe of 10 per cent of the project’s profits, allegedly committed near a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in March 2011.
In addition, he is charged with causing the disposal of two plots of Penang state land valued at RM208.8 million to a developer linked to the undersea tunnel project, with the alleged offences taking place at the Penang Land and Mines Office in February 2015 and March 2017. - April 21, 2026
