Guan Eng trial: Land plots valuation far less than cost of work done by developer, court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here was told today that valuations done on two plots of land given ownership to Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) by the Penang government were far less than the cost of work done by the developer pertaining to the undersea tunnel and paired roads projects.

This was agreed upon by two valuation officers from the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) in Georgetown, Penang during cross-examination by lawyers Datuk Gobind Singh Deo and Haijan Omar, representing former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who is facing corruption charges pertaining to the projects.

The 25th prosecution witness, Zakariya Nayan, 55, agreed with Haijan that Lot 702 in Bandar Tanjung Pinang, valued at RM50 million, was far less than the cost of work done by CZBUCG, which was estimated at RM138 million.

Nurul Asshima Aminullah, the 26th witness, also agreed with Gobind's suggestion that the Plot A of Lot 713 at the same location, valued at RM30 milion was far lower than the RM73 million on the work done by the company.

Both witnesses agreed that based on the valuations done, the Penang government benefited greatly and did not suffer any losses through the land swap.

The witnesses, replying to Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib during re-examination, admitted to not being aware of what sort of work was being carried out by CZBUCG.

Reading his witness statement, Zakariya said that around the end of December 2014, he received a file containing documents and an application from the director of the Penang Land and Mines Office for a valuation of Lot 702 to be transferred to Ewein Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd.

He said Lot 702, which had an area size of 14,863 square metres, for freehold ownership was valued at RM3,360 per square metre, and after being rounded up, totalled RM50 million as of Dec 2014.

Ewein Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd is a joint venture company between CZBUCG and Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd to develop the land plots for the City of Dreams seafront development megaproject.

Former Penang executive councillor Datuk Lim Hock Seng had previously testified that Guan Eng had approved the award of Plot 702 to CZBUCG during a state executive council meeting on Dec 11, 2014.

Meanwhile, Nurul Asshima also made a similar valuation for Lot 713, which had an area of 8,093 square metres, valuing it at RM3,700 per square metres before rounding up the total as of Nov 2016 to RM30 million.

According to the first amended charge, Lim, 60, is accused of using his position as then Penang Chief Minister to obtain a bribe of RM3.3 million for helping a company owned by Zarul Ahmad to secure the construction project worth RM6,341,383,702 between January 2011 and August 2017.

On the second amended charge, Lim is accused of soliciting bribes amounting to 10 per cent of the profits from Zarul Ahmad to be earned by the company as gratification for helping his (Zarul) company to secure the project.

Lim also faces two charges of causing two plots of land, worth RM208.8 million, belonging to the Penang government to be disposed of to two companies, which are linked to the state's undersea tunnel project, between February 2015 and March 2017.

The trial before Judge Azura Alwi continues on June 7

-- BERNAMA