KUALA LUMPUR: Former Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told the High Court he sold most of his firms worth hundreds of millions of ringgit to become a “debt-free” minister.
Tengku Adnan, 69, said he told then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that he was working for several companies and agreed to sell several of them before becoming a full minister.
“Among the companies I sold was Mutiara Telekom (Digi) and only kept marginal shares in several other companies such as Hyundai-Sime Darby and Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd.
“Your honour, if I kept Digi today, it is worth RM5bil; I sold it for RM480mil at that time, ” he said during re-examination by his lawyer Datuk Tan Hock Chuan in his defence at his RM2mil graft trial.
The Putrajaya MP was clarifying why he disagreed with Deputy Public Prosecutor Julia Ibrahim’s suggestion earlier that he failed to comply with the code of conduct for members of the administration due to his continued ownership of a majority stake in Tadmansori Holdings.
He was appointed deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department on Sept 29,2001 and minister in the Prime Minister’s Department on Nov 20,2002.
Yesterday, Tengku Adnan confirmed he declared his assets during his tenure in the Cabinet since 2001, to three prime ministers, namely Dr Mahathir, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He also confirmed he declared assets worth RM938,643,566.16 to Dr Mahathir in 2001 along with RM711,325,822.00 to Abdullah in 2006 and RM691,770,649.00 as well as RM782,748,061.00 to Najib in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
Earlier, Tengku Adnan disagreed with Julia’s suggestion that a receipt issued from Umno’s receipt book for an alleged RM2mil political donation from businessman Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong was forged after he was arrested in 2018.
The former minister said he signed a receipt with the serial number 376241 dated June 14,2016 for the RM2mil cheque to Chai, and he confirmed that this receipt was prepared by Umno staff on his instruction.
On Oct 14 last year, the High Court ordered Tengku Adnan to enter his defence, after finding the prosecution had established a prima facie case against him.
Tengku Adnan was charged in his capacity as Federal Territories Minister with having accepted RM2mil from Chai via a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque belonging to Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd, later deposited into a CIMB Bank account of Tadmansori Holdings he had an interest in when it was known Aset Kayamas was linked to his official duties.
Hearing before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues on March 25. — Bernama
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