{"id":1311,"date":"2021-07-13T12:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T04:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2021-07-18T13:36:26","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T05:36:26","slug":"zarul-controversial-figure-in-penang-undersea-tunnel-company-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/?p=1311","title":{"rendered":"Zarul, controversial figure in Penang undersea tunnel company, quits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SOURCE: Malaysiakini<\/a><\/strong> | Published\u00a06 Jan 2021, 2:02 pmModified\u00a06 Jan 2021, 2:35 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A key figure in a consortium that won the concession to build the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel<\/a> and three highways in Penang has quit his post as CEO of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli<\/strong><\/a> (above<\/em>), an Umno member, confirmed the matter, saying he quit the company in December last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul, 60, has been implicated in the new graft trial<\/a> of former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng relating to alleged bribery charges involving the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lim’s trial is set to begin in June this year, where Zarul is expected to be a key witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if this were the reason for his departure, Zarul replied: “I quit because I cannot contribute to the company anymore.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The undersea tunnel project was controversial from the onset, drawing intense criticism from environmental NGOs but Zarul fiercely defended the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company, Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd, comprised Zarul’s Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, Beijing Urban Construction Group Co Ltd (BUCG), Juteras Sdn Bhd, and Sri Tinggi Sdn Bhd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, BUCG was booted out of the project after a crane operated by the company fell and crushed a woman in her car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul’s fate also went south in January 2018 when he was arrested and remanded for 11 days by the MACC after a series of raids<\/a> over the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 7.2km tunnel project which connects Persiaran Gurney to Bagan Ajam in Seberang Perai is under the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is learnt that the 2013 project is set to resume after a Kedah-based developer takes over the construction through the purchase of majority shares in the company awarded the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOURCE: Malaysiakini | Published\u00a06 Jan 2021, 2:02 pmModified\u00a06 Jan 2021, 2:35 pm<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68],"tags":[72],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/LGE_SPUT-04-1.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}