Witness tells court why he paid middleman

KUALA LUMPUR: A key witness in the corruption trial involving Lim Guan Eng on the Penang undersea tunnel project told the Sessions Court that the threat of a money laundering probe and charges against him was one of the reasons why he paid RM22mil to a middleman to settle a graft probe into the project.

During cross-examination by Lim’s counsel Gobind Singh Deo yesterday, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC) senior executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said he received a threatening message from businessman G. Gnanaraja, who claimed to be close to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2017.