SHAH ALAM: A former director of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) has told the High Court here that Khairy Jamaluddin’s Rembau Umno division received contributions from the company but the money was not given directly to him.
Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani, 42, said contributions of between RM50,000 and RM200,000 were given by UKSB to the division as political aid and for disaster relief and humanitarian activities.
He said the contributions were channeled through the division and not given directly to Khairy, also known as KJ, who was then the deputy head of the division.
Earlier, the 15th prosecution witness, former UKSB director VK Lee, had told the court that "KJ" and "bomoh" were among words recorded in the UKSB ledger which was presented in the corruption trial of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
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The UKSB ledger, also known as "Buku 555", tendered at the trial contained records of payments made by UKSB to several individuals between 2014 and 2018.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin during examination-in-chief on the ways he helped Khairy, Wan Quoris Shah said: "Political aid for KJ was not only at division level but also at national level because... he was a politician at the national level."
"For example, in times of disaster and the like, I would help under humanitarian aid programmes. If there were by-elections, I would also help," he said.
The 16th prosecution witness said the financial aid was extended according to needs and not given on a monthly basis.
"Contributions were not given directly (to Khairy); I myself managed them. If there were programmes which needed aid, I would help. I could control it in terms of using money.
"For sure KJ was not connected to this matter (the focus of the trial, the foreign visa system or VLN), and there were no big allocations for him.
"But VLN was linked to the Home Ministry. Datuk Seri (Ahmad Zahid) was the minister concerned at that time, and he was also Umno deputy president. I think his responsibility was bigger," he added.
ALSO READ: Ex-company chief: We gave cash to Ahmad Zahid
Ahmad Zahid, 69, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to SG$13.56mil from UKSB for himself as home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of an one-stop service centre in China and providing the VLN system, as well as to maintain the contractual agreement to supply the system to the Home Ministry.
On a further seven counts, he is charged with obtaining for himself SG$1,150,000, RM3mil, 15,000 Euros and US$15,000 from the same company which has links with his official duty.
He is accused of committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights Kajang between October 2014 and March 2018.
The hearing before Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues. – Bernama
