Businessman Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli, who said he felt “indebted” to Lim for helping him secure the project, admitted that he had tried to shield the politician from investigation.

“I didn’t want any of the evidence obtained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during its probe to be presented in court,” Zarul told the court.

Earlier this month, Zarul testified that he had given a truthful account to MACC officers during their investigation.

He said the agency confronted him with documents related to the project, and that he “had no choice but to tell them what happened”.

He also admitted in court that he had instructed his then finance manager, Azli Adam, to prepare fake invoices to hide the payments made to Lim.

“I know what I did with the dummy invoices was wrong, but I wanted to protect YB Lim so there wouldn’t be a money trail leading back to him,” Zarul said.

The court also heard from MACC investigating officer Eng Heng Jun, who testified that Zarul had lodged a report against fellow businessman G Gnanaraja for allegedly cheating him of RM19 million.

Eng said Gnanaraja was charged with three counts of cheating in the Shah Alam sessions court but pleaded guilty to an alternative charge in 2020 under Section 218(1) of the Companies Act. He was fined RM230,000.

Lim is accused of using his position as Penang chief minister to solicit a 10% share of profits from the undersea tunnel project and receiving RM3.3 million in bribes from Zarul. He also faces two charges of dishonestly misappropriating RM208.7 million worth of state land.

The hearing continues before judge Azura Alwi on June 24.