Ex-manager tells of suitcase containing RM3 million delivered to Zahid at official house

A former Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) administrative manager told the Shah Alam High Court today that he had delivered a luggage bag containing RM3 million to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the former deputy prime minister’s official residence Seri Satria in Putrajaya.

David Tan Siong Sun, 47, said he could not recall when the delivery was made but that it was the second time he had gone to Zahid’s official residence, with former UKSB director Harry Lee Vui Khun.

Tan said this during examination-in-chief by lead deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran when asked how he had sent the money to Zahid.

He said he put the RM3 million in a suitcase with rollers and left it in the living room.

When Raja Rozela asked Tan about his first delivery, Tan replied: “I went to Zahid’s house together with Wan Quoris (former UKSB director Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani).

“We went to the living room (of Zahid’s house), then Wan Quoris started talking about business operations and political matters. After that, Wan Quoris excused himself and left the room.

“Then I picked up the envelope (containing the money) and informed Datuk Seri ‘this is the envelope’ and left it on the table. (I) salam Datuk Seri and left the room.”

When reading out his witness statement, Tan said he was the person in charge of preparing the cash to be delivered to Zahid each month.

“I was asked to do so by Harry (Lee). I was also involved in the delivery of cash to Datuk Seri (Zahid) on a few occasions. I made records to show the monthly cash deliveries to Datuk Seri starting from October 2014 to August 2018,” he said.

He said the money that UKSB used for the monthly and one-time payments was not taken from UKSB’s accounts but came from business partners in Hong Kong.

“UKSB did not have enough funds to cover the payments, so I had to ask our partners to help us out.

“The funds from Hong Kong would be channelled into Malaysia through money changers in Kuala Lumpur, and then passed on to me in cash. After receiving the cash, I would keep it in the company safe box first, and when the time came for us to make the delivery, I would take out the required amount and put it in a sealed envelope,” he said.

Zahid, 69, faces 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million from UKSB for himself as then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the one-stop centre service in China and the foreign visa (VLN) system, as well as to maintain the contract agreement to supply the VLN integrated system to the same company by the home ministry.

On another seven counts, he was charged with obtaining for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs and US$15,000 from the same company which had official links with his official duty.

He was charged with committing all of the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights Kajang between October 2014 and March 2018.

The trial before judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues tomorrow.