He was upset the RM2mil fee did not come in as scheduled, court told
KUALA LUMPUR: The former political secretary to a former minister was frustrated about RM2mil owed to him over a project he allegedly helped a company secure, the Sessions Court heard.
Freelance consultant Khairul Nizam Mohd Sayuti, 53, who was attached with Nexuscorpgroup Sdn Bhd (NSB) for the RMPNet project, testified that Sayed Amir Muzzakkir Al Sayed Mohamad told him this during a discussion about current and future projects at the latter’s office in Publika on Jan 29, 2021.
At that time, Sayed Amir was political secretary to then Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
Khairul Nizam said Sayed Amir complained that he was dissatisfied with NSB managing director Wan Azhar Mohamed Yusof as the payment did not follow schedule and that there was still a balance of RM2mil.
“I merely listened and advised him to follow the agreement that was made,” Khairul Nizam said at the hearing yesterday.
The court earlier heard that NSB won the open tender for the RMPNet project worth RM381mil for the maintenance, services and supply of spare parts for infrastructure equipment, servers, software and user radios for the police.
Khairul Nizam is the 14th prosecution witness in the graft trial of Sayed Amir who is accused of corruption linked with the project.
The witness testified that if the payment issue was raised again, Wan Azhar asked him to tell Sayed Amir that he (Wan Azhar) had “surrendered” and could not make the payment because payments from the project were still pending.
“I only knew that Wan Azhar needed to make payments to Sayed Amir but did not know about the payment schedule. I never saw and was not present during any of the payments from Wan Azhar to Sayed Amir,” Khairul Nizam said.
When deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Hazel Tan asked if he knew what the RM2mil payment was for, Khairul Nizam said he did not know the details.
“This was what Sayed Amir said to me. I do not know in detail what the amount refers to or if the RM2mil is part of an agreement,” he added.
DPP Tan then asked the witness about Sayed Amir’s tone and body language when he made the complaint.
“He (Sayed Amir) was definitely not satisfied with Wan Azhar ... with a frustrated tone and likely upset at that time,” Khairul Nizam said.
Sayed Amir is accused of two counts of accepting RM350,000 in bribes from Wan Azhar, allegedly as a reward for helping secure the RM381.1mil tender for the RMPNet project. The offences are said to have occurred at the Yayasan Tanah Aku office, Solaris Dutamas, on Dec 4 and 16, 2020.
He also faces a third charge of soliciting RM350,000 from the same person for the same purpose at the Nexuscorpgroup office in Shah Alam in early Dec 2020. The hearing before judge Rosli Ahmad resumes on Aug 19.
