Identity of Zenith chief questioned

GEORGE TOWN: The identity of Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli is being questioned by Penang Barisan Nasional Youth.

Penang Umno Youth chief Dr Shaik Hussein Mydin said a search made with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) on Tuesday revealed that Zarul was neither listed as a director nor a shareholder of the company.

Zenith Construction is one of the major players in Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd which won the tender for the undersea tunnel and three road projects in Penang that cost RM6.3bil.

The consortium is a collaboration of four companies Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG), Sri Tinggi Sdn Bhd, Jureteras Sdn Bhd and the Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd-China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd partnership.

Dr Shaik Hussein said since Zarul's name was neither in the list of directors nor shareholders of Zenith Construction, he should publicly reveal his personal financial capacity to take up the projects.

He had earlier also questioned the track record of Zenith Construction, saying that the company was registered with SSM on Aug 22 in 2011, some three months before the tender for the projects opened on Nov 14 in 2011.

However, the consortium said in a statement yesterday that even though Zenith Construction was a newly incorporated company, the cumulative experience of its key personnel totalled more than 100 years, especially their forte in the financial and infrastructure industry.

It stated that Zarul's shareholding in the company was being held by Mohammad Jeffrie Abdul Halim, with 67% share.

It also mentioned that Zarul, 54, has more than 30 years experience managing public and private corporations and will be named as one of the consortium's directors after its post structuring.

At a separate event yesterday, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the three roads would be toll-free while toll would be imposed on the tunnel as the state government did not want to have any dispute with the Federal Government for not charging a fee.

Asked about Pakatan Rakyat's stand against toll collection, Lim said they were referring to concessionaries which had already collected back their investments like the North-South Expressway and Penang Bridge.