Businessman Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja admitted in court that he was declared bankrupt last December after failing to pay his lawyers in a separate case at the Shah Alam Court.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Ramkarpal Singh, Gnanaraja confirmed that he had engaged four lawyers in the matter but did not settle their fees despite being acquitted and discharged.
“I had no idea what was going to happen, even with four lawyers representing me,” he said, acknowledging a breakdown in his relationship with them. He added that the law firm Dennis Nik & Wong sued him for unpaid fees amounting to RM5.3 million, a judgment he has yet to satisfy.
Ramkarpal pressed him on the matter:
Ramkarpal: “Did you pay that amount of fees?”
Gnanaraja: “No.”
Ramkarpal: “Despite being told by the court to do so, you still refused.”
Gnanaraja: “Yes.”
Ramkarpal: “So, next, you became bankrupt. You’re a bankrupt by the judgment of the court.”
Gnanaraja: “Yes, agree.”
Ramkarpal: “And today you’re testifying as a bankrupt.”
Gnanaraja: “Yes.”
In the Shah Alam case, Gnanaraja was charged in 2019 with cheating Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli of RM19 million. The charge was later amended, and he paid a fine.
A 108-page statement Zarul gave the MACC in that case was allowed to be used in Lim Guan Eng’s trial to challenge Zarul’s credibility.
Testifying further, Gnanaraja said he met Lim only twice in August 2017 and had no contact with him before or after. “I don’t have his number,” he said.
He claimed that Lim asked him to set up a company and open a bank account to facilitate project payments, adding that he felt compelled to comply as he was dealing with the then-chief minister. He said Lim even visited his home to review documents.
However, Gnanaraja admitted that the company, Bumi Muhibah, had already been established a year earlier. He denied that it was created as a vehicle for fraud. “I don’t agree with the word fraud here,” he said. “At that point in time, I was serving the chief minister, so I had to get it done for him.”
Ramkarpal challenged him:
“You’ve come to court asking the court to believe you — that Lim, whom you don’t really know, was going to engage you for corrupt practices, and you claim to have made him believe you would open a company and prepare an account.”
Gnanaraja: “Yes.”
Ramkarpal: “I put it to you that these are all lies, as Lim Guan Eng could not have asked you to open an account in Bumi Muhibah because a bank account had already been opened at that time.”
Gnanaraja: “I do not agree.”
Ramkarpal: “You’re a liar, that’s what you have been doing on several statements in this court.”
Gnanaraja: “I disagree.”
Lim, 64, is accused of using his position as Penang chief minister to solicit RM3.3 million in bribes to help Zarul secure the RM6.34 billion undersea tunnel project. He allegedly committed the offence at his office in Komtar between January 2011 and August 2017.
In a separate charge, Lim is accused of seeking 10% of the company’s profits as gratification at The Gardens Hotel, Mid Valley City, in March 2011.
The Bagan MP also faces two further charges of causing the disposal of two plots of state land worth RM208.8 million to companies linked to the project.
The trial before Judge Azura Alwi continues on 14 October.