KUALA LUMPUR: Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin told the Sessions Court he was shocked to discover during an anti-graft investigation that his wife, Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad, had received RM2.8mil in 2015.
“There is no pretence. I really did not know. I was indeed shocked,” he said yesterday under cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How on the second day of his defence.
Bung Moktar and Zizie Izette are jointly on trial over allegations that the RM2.8mil, allegedly received from two unit trust agents through Zizie Izette, amounted to graft.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) began investigating the matter in 2016.
Law suggested that Bung Moktar failed to take action after learning of the money Zizie Izette received from prosecution witnesses Norhaili Ahmad Mokhtar and Madhi Abdul Hamid.
“There was no action from me because the MACC had already begun its investigation, hence it was their business,” he replied, adding that he did not lodge a police report as he was already under MACC probe.
When pressed further, Bung Moktar disagreed with the suggestion that a police report would have helped clear his name.
The prosecution also questioned his relationship with Norhaili, noting that she became acquainted with Bung Moktar through Zizie Izette.
He acknowledged that Norhaili was his wife’s unit trust agent but said he was unsure about how long they had known each other.
Bung Moktar replied that he was “not sure” to suggestions that Norhaili befriended his wife to secure business opportunities, and disagreed that it was difficult for others to meet him as then Felcra chairman.
On May 3, 2019, Bung Moktar was charged with two counts of accepting bribes of RM2.2mil and RM262,500 as inducement for Felcra’s approval to invest RM150mil in Public Mutual unit trusts.
He was alleged to have received the bribes through Zizie Izette at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch on June 12, 2015.
Zizie Izette was charged with three counts of abetting him over the matter.
The trial before judge Rosli Ahmad resumes today.
