SHAH ALAM: A former director of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) told the High Court that Khairy Jamaluddin’s Rembau UMNO division received contributions from the company but the money was not given directly to the former Minister of Youth and Sports.
Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani, 42, said contributions of between RM50,000 and RM200,000 were given by UKSB to the UMNO division as political aid and for disaster relief and humanitarian activities.
He said the contributions were channelled through the Rembau 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 Harry Lee Vui Khun, 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.
The UKSB ledger, also known as “Buku 555”, tendered in 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 the division level but also at the national level because at that time 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 for KJ were not given directly; I myself managed them. If there were programmes which needed aid, I would help. I could control in terms of using money.
“For sure, KJ was not connected to this matter (foreign visa or the VLN system), and there were no big allocations for him. But the VLN was linked to the Home Ministry. Datuk Seri Zahid was the minister concerned at that time, and he was also the UMNO deputy president. I think his responsibility was bigger,” he added.
Ahmad Zahid, 69, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million from UKSB for himself as the then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the one-stop centre service in China and the VLN system as well as to maintain the contract agreement to supply the VLN integrated system to the same company by the Home Ministry.
For another seven counts, he was charged with obtaining for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 from the same company with official links with his official duty.
He was charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.
Hearing before Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues. -BERNAMA
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