Ahmad Zahid received SG$13.6m in 40 months from UKSB, says witness

Handing over of the cash was agreed to by UKSB which handles VLN and OSC in China through the Home Affairs Ministry so that it is not disturbed by another company

by SHAFIQUL ALIFF / TMRpic

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi received a total of SG$13.56 million (RM42 million) in 40 months since October 2014 in the form of cash from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) says witness, Senior Superintendent of the Investigative Division of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Putrajaya, Mahendran Vrejenan.

The witness said to the High Court Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa that the handing over of the cash was agreed to by UKSB which handles overseas visa applications (VLN) and the One Stop Centre (OSC) in China through the Ministry of Home Affairs so that it is not disturbed by another company.

The handover of the money was carried out in stages starting from SG$200,000 in October 2014 to February 2015 at two locations namely at Ahmad Zahid’s residence in Country Heights, Kajang, and Seri Satria, Putrajaya, before being increased twice to SG$300,000 in March 2015 to June 2017 and SG$520,000 in July 2017 to March 2018.

According to the 18th Prosecution Witness, the giving of money and increase was based on Ahmad Zahid’s request to two former UKSB directors Harry Lee Vui Khiun and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani for political contributions.

“Based on the testimony of Lee and Wan Quoris Shah, Ahmad Zahid had met them several times at Country Height to discuss the company’s business and also to build rapport. During the discussion, Ahmad Zahid asked UKSB to extend financial aid as a political contribution to Umno.

“At that time, UKSB agreed to assist to ensure that UKSB’s business was not disrupted. At that time several other companies tried to lobby for the work that UKSB was carrying out which was related to visa matters,” he said in a written statement.

Mahendran added that the former UKSB administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun then recorded in a ledger the transaction of cash payments to the Umno president through Microsoft Excel and named Ahmad Zahid’s code names such as “monster, mon, YB, Young Boy, Z and ZH”.

However, the witness added that the investigation found that the cash handed over to the former home minister was not from the UKSB account based on the company’s financial statements between 2014 and 2018.

“MACC obtained UKSB’s financial statements and reports which showed that UKSB’s profit after tax was RM625,033 in 2014, RM114,572 (2015), RM4.91 million (2016), RM2.82 million (2017) and RM351,739 (2018).

“UKSB’s profits stated in the financial reports are the result of agreements between Hong Kong companies and UKSB,” he explained.

Ahmad Zahid is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to SG$13.56 million from UKSB as the then home minister to extend the firm’s contract as the operator of the OCS in China and the VLN system as well as to maintain the contract agreement for the supply of the VLN integrated system.

He is also accused of another seven counts of obtaining for himself SG$1.15 million, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs (RM70,102) and US$15,000 (RM66,855) from the same company in connection with his official duties.