‘Muhyiddin given RM1.3mil’

SHAH ALAM: A witness told the High Court that Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) had given RM1.3mil in funds to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in 2018.

David Tan Siong Sun, 47, who is the former administrative manager of the company, disclosed this when the company’s ledger was shown to him during the corruption trial of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi involving the Foreign Visa System (VLN) yesterday.

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When asked by Ahmad Zahid’s lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal who was the ‘TSM’ recorded in the ledger, the witness said: “Tan Sri Muhyiddin”.

He then went on and told the court that the funds were given to Muhyiddin in cash payments on June 4, July 4 and Aug 23, 2018.

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“On June 4, 2018, it was RM300,000; on July 4, it was RM500,000 and on Aug 23, it was RM500,000,” he said.

Tan also confirmed that in 2018, Muhyiddin was the home minister (after Ahmad Zahid) and that the UKSB-VLN project was still under the Home Ministry’s purview.

Ahmad Zaidi: Regarding TSM, I suggest to you, that the payments were made in relation to the VLN for the government of the day?

Tan: Yes, for the government of the day.

Apart from Muhyiddin, other names mentioned in yesterday’s proceedings were Khairy Jamaluddin, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal dan Datuk Seri Anifah Aman as they were also stated in the UKSB’s ledger and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) forensic report.

Tan also confirmed that, based on the ledger, UKSB had given Khairy a total of RM3.7mil, while Reezal Merican, based on MACC’s forensic report, had received between RM200,000 and RM300,000 from the company.

When asked whether Reezal Merican was the deputy foreign minister at that time, the witness said: “I’m not sure.”

Tan, however, agreed with the lawyer’s suggestion that the ‘MOR’ and ‘FM’ stated in the ledger referred to the then ‘Minister Of Rural’ Mohd Shafie and ‘Foreign Minister’ Anifah.

Ahmad Zaidi: Most of the payments are political donations?

Tan: That’s correct.

Ahmad Zaidi: Of course, (the payments) to Datuk Seri Zahid (Ahmad Zahid) are political donations too?

Tan: That’s correct.

Meanwhile, the witness disagreed with Ahmad Zahid’s other lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik’s suggestion that he had abetted two former UKSB directors, VK Lee and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani to commit corruption, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Ahmad Zahid is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56mil (RM42mil) from UKSB as an inducement for himself in his capacity as a civil servant and the then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the One-Stop Centre (OSC) in China and the VLN system as well as to maintain the agreement to supply VLN integrated system paraphernalia to the same company by the Home Ministry.

For another seven counts, Zahid was charged as home minister to have obtained for himself S$1,150,000, RM3mil, € 15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company in connection with his official work.

He is charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Presint 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.

The trial before Justice Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues on July 25. — Bernama