{"id":2551,"date":"2022-06-23T18:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T10:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2022-08-09T13:42:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T05:42:05","slug":"day-24-witness-23-datuk-zarul-ahmad-mohd-zulkifli-czbucg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/?p=2551","title":{"rendered":"Day #24 \u2013 Witness #23: Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli (CZBUCG)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘I fell into depression after controversy over Penang undersea tunnel project erupted’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

KUALA LUMPUR – June 23: The owner of a company that was given the RM6.34 billion Penang undersea tunnel project today revealed his company actually just wanted to be a broker but ended up with a windfall after being handed the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd<\/strong> director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli <\/strong>said the project had fallen into his company’s lap more through direct negotiations instead of open tender as claimed by former chief minister Lim Guan Eng<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also lamented that he ended up suffering from severe depression after controversy regarding the project erupted in the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was forced to take medication to calm my thoughts when this issue erupted. I was remanded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for 11 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Everything that I had worked for to make this project a success was almost destroyed. I was unable to secure bank loans and investors began to shun me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul said his dreams of becoming a successful Bumiputera entrepreneur were almost crushed but he endured the negative publicity to prove critics wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On how his company ended up getting the project, Zarul said Consortium Zenith was one of 60 companies which had attended a request for proposal (RFP) briefing by the state government before he was called to attend a pre-qualification session in November 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said former state executive council member Lim Hock Seng<\/strong> actually met him on Guan Eng’s instructions in May 2011 to brief him on what was needed for the RFP documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul said the meeting with Hock Seng had given him confidence that the project would be awarded to his company based on a direct negotiation basis even though the state government was announcing it as an open tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 62-year-old entrepreneur also revealed that his company did not have the funding to undertake such a mammoth project and was initially only interested in becoming a broker for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All we wanted was a commission and a little work to be awarded to my company. However, after discussing with several investors, we ended up getting the project.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul also touched on his statement which had implicated Guan Eng, adding that he had no ill motives against the DAP politician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He denied cooking up stories against Guan Eng and maintained that he was only telling the truth about events surrounding the undersea tunnel project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarul was testifying as a key prosecution witness in the corruption trial involving Guan Eng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin<\/strong> before Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOURCE: https:\/\/www.nst.com.my\/news\/crime-courts\/2022\/06\/807553\/i-fell-depression-after-controversy-over-penang-undersea-tunnel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘I fell into depression after controversy over Penang undersea tunnel project erupted’<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1197,"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\/Undersea-Tunnel-Series.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551"}],"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=2551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2552,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions\/2552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffooi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}