KUALA LUMPUR: The company that eventually secured the Penang undersea tunnel and road projects gained a “clear advantage” by obtaining technical and financial information before the projects were opened for tender, the Sessions Court heard.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Zulhilmi Ramli said investigations found that discussions on technical and financial matters had taken place between Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) and the Penang state government without the involvement of other bidders.
“There were discussions between BUCG and the state government without the participation of the other bidders involved in the project. This gave BUCG a clear advantage.
“The company had initially been considered through direct negotiations before the process was changed to an open tender,” he said during cross-examination by lead counsel Haijan Omar as the corruption trial involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng resumed yesterday.
Earlier, Haijan established that Zulhilmi did not obtain any draft request-for-proposal (RFP) documents during the investigation and was therefore unable to compare them with the final RFP issued by the state government.
Zulhilmi agreed that he could not make such a comparison but maintained that his findings were based on witness statements and minutes of three meetings obtained during the investigation.
Last year, businessman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, one of the prosecution’s key witnesses and a former director of Consortium Zenith BUCG, testified that his company had an advantage in the tender process because it was the only bidder that attended three project-related meetings in 2011.
The court previously heard from former Penang executive councillor Datuk Lim Hock Seng that the consortium, comprising Zenith BUCG, Juteras Sdn Bhd and Sri Tinggi Sdn Bhd, received the highest evaluation score in the tender exercise and was recommended by the technical and financial committee after meeting the requirements set out in the RFP.
The trial before judge Azura Alwi continues today.
Guan Eng, 65, is charged with using his position to obtain RM3.3mil in gratification linked to the project, allegedly committed at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office in Komtar between January 2011 and August 2017.
He also faces a second charge of allegedly using his position to obtain a 10% share of the project’s profits as gratification near The Gardens Hotel in Mid Valley City in March 2011, as well as two charges relating to the disposal of Penang government land worth RM208.8mil to companies linked to the project.
