Geethanjali confirms all the pictures shown by the prosecutor were taken at her home in 2017

by RAHIMI YUNUS / pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

FORMER Penang Chief Minister (CM) Lim Guan Eng (picture) had a meeting at a businessman’s house at 2am to discuss confidential matters, a witness in the Penang undersea tunnel graft trial told the court.

Businesswoman Datuk Seri K Geethanjali, 35, testified that she and her mother had been woken up at about 2am at one night in August 2017 by her husband, Datuk Seri G Gnanaraja, when they had guests, which were Lim and a businessman, Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli.

“I woke my mother who was in another room and we went downstairs where my husband introduced me to Lim.

“Another man was with them which was Datuk Zarul Ahmad, whom I had met before when he came over to discuss business with my husband,” she said in the trial at the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Sessions Court yesterday.

Geethanjali, an actress who runs a business in talent organisation and films, said she had small talks with the visitors before one individual asked her, Gnanaraja and her mother to take a photo with Lim.

She said Zarul Ahmad took several pictures using his mobile phones and it was spontaneous.

About 30 minutes later, she recalled that her husband requested her and her mother to leave as he wanted to discuss matters with Lim and Zarul Ahmad privately.

“My mother and I left them, and I didn’t take note of their discussion nor did my husband share any details about that discussion with me,” she said, adding that they went to bed after that.

The first witness in the trial told the court that that was the first time Lim had visited her home, while Zarul Ahmad had been there before several times.

Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin presented a few pictures to Geethanjali and she confirmed all the pictures were taken at her home in 2017.

During cross-examination by Lim’s defence counsel Gobind Singh Deo, she said her husband knew a few politicians and they would come to the house.

Lim, 60, is facing four corruption charges involving the construction of an undersea tunnel and paired roads project in Penang.