KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Datuk K. Geethanjali Gausillia was the first witness to be called in to testify in Lim Guan Eng's corruption case and identified several pictures of the former Penang chief minister at her home in Petaling Jaya.

       Geethanjali, who also runs a business dealing in "talent organisation" and film, told the court that her husband, Datuk Seri G. Gnanaraja, woke her up at 2am one day and told her to get dressed because Lim was coming for a visit.

       "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 Mohd Zulkifli)' whom I had met before when he came over to discuss business with my husband," she said.

       However, it was not revealed in her witness statement exactly when Lim was at the house.

       She also said Lim asked about her and her mother's well-being and they engaged in some small talk but the conversation did not go any further.

       She said Zarul took several pictures with his mobile phone in sections of her home and she served drinks to the guests.

       She said the picture-taking was spontaneous.

       About 30 minutes later, her husband told her and her mother to leave as he wanted to discuss matters privately with Zarul and Lim.

       "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 she and her mother went back to bed.

       She also said that it was the first time Lim had been to her home but noted that Zarul had been there several times.

       Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin then presented a few pictures to Geethanjali, who confirmed all the pictures were taken in her home in 2017.

       Wan Shaharuddin also asked whether the men were wearing shoes or just socks, to which Geethanjali said they were wearing socks.

       However, the repeated questions on footwear led Lim's defence lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo to interject.

       "Where is the relevancy in this? The pictures are one thing but then he asks about whether they were wearing socks or not," Gobind asked.

       However, Justice Azura Alwi allowed Wan Shaharuddin to continue questioning the witness.

       When his turn came to cross-examine the witness, Gobind asked if Geethanjali met politicians often and if it was common to take pictures with them.

       She revealed that her husband knew a few politicians and they would come to the house, to which Gobind remarked that it was not an unusual occurrence in that house.

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

       For the first amended charge, Lim is charged with using his position as then Penang chief minister to corruptly receive RM3.3mil to help a company owned by Zarul to secure the undersea tunnel and paired roads project in Penang worth RM6,341,383,702.

       The offence was allegedly committed between January 2011 and August 2017 at the Penang chief minister's office.

       For the second amended charge, Lim is charged with soliciting 10% of profits from Zarul to help the company be appointed for the same project.

       Lim was charged with committing the offence near The Gardens Hotel, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City here in March 2011, between 12.30am and 2am.

       The Bagan MP was also charged with two counts of causing two lots of land owned by the Penang state government worth RM208.8mil to be disposed of by the developer linked to the undersea tunnel project.

       The offences were allegedly committed at the Penang Land and Mines Office, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017.