Who else had allegedly received political funds from UKSB?
SHAH ALAM - The trial of Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who was charged with 33 counts of receiving a total of SG$13.56 million from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) has become more sensational as a witness revealed names of several prominent leaders who were alleged to have received money from the company.
In the latest development, the High Court, here, was on Monday told that UKSB gave out political funds totalling RM2.6 million to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The company's former administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun, 47, testified that he gave RM1.3 million to Dr Mahathir through two transactions in August and September 2018, for the political party.
He said Dr Mahathir received the funds through his nephew Tan Sri Rahmat Abu Bakar under the code name “Kedahan” as stated in UKSB’s ledger.
The witness also confirmed that former transport minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy as well as former international trade and industry minister Tan Sri Ong Ka Chuan had each received political funds amounting to RM7.85 million and RM922,820 respectively from UKSB.
Chan’s code name in the ledger was “Prof” while Ong was “OKC”.
Tan also revealed that Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan codenamed “S Pat” received a total of RM1.162 million as stated in the ledger.
On June 16, under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran before judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa, Tan told the court that the code name “Monster” in the UKSB ledger referred to Zahid.
He said the former deputy prime minister also had the codenames “Z”, “ZH”, “YB”, “MON” and “Young Boy” in the ledger.
Tan said the secret codes were only known to him to make sure that Zahid’s identity was not revealed if someone else had looked through the ledger.
Ahmad Zahid, 69, was charged with receiving the money in his capacity as home minister at that time as an inducement to extend UKSB’s contract as the operator of a one-stop centre in China and the foreign visa system, as well as to maintain the agreement to supply a foreign visa integrated system to the company by the ministry.
He was charged with seven counts of accepting SG$1,150,000, RM3 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company, which he knew had connections with his official function as the home minister.
The Bagan Datuk MP was alleged to have committed the offences at Sri Satria, Presint 16 in Putrajaya and Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.
In June, Tan had made several politicians in the country felt uneasy when more names that were in the ledger were revealed.
The political leaders were said to have received the funds between 2014 and 2018 based on a spreadsheet file on the witness’ laptop.
Tan had throughout the proceedings mentioned several names including among other former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
The witness previously told the court that Muhyiddin received political funds of RM1.3 million from UKSB in 2018.
He said based on the ledger, Muhyiddin also received M300,000 on June 4, 2018, RM500,000 (July 4, 2018) and RM500,000 (Aug 23, 2018).
Muhyiddin’s code name was “TSM” while “Team Pagoh” was the code name of a project, the witness said.
The witness has also named Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in his testimony.
However, some of the leaders whose names cropped up in Tan’s testimony have denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it will take the matter revealed in court seriously and will call all the individuals who were in the list of the ledger which became the evidence in trial.
