Company gave Zahid monthly payments totalling S$13.56 million, MACC man tells court

A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer told the Shah Alam High Court today that the total amount of cash given by Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) to former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on a monthly basis between October 2014 and March 2018 was S$13.56 million.

V Mahendran, 38, said his investigation had found that it was all recorded in the company’s ledger.

"The ledger was prepared by David Tan (former UKSB administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun) using Microsoft Excel sheets on his laptop computer. It was aimed at recording UKSB’s monthly cash deposits and withdrawals.

"In the ledger, Tan used code names for Zahid such as Monster, Mon, YB, Young Boy, ZH and Z," he said, reading his witness statement during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Zander Lim Wai Keong.

Mahendran said the ledger also contained proof of payments made to other ministers, politicians and government officers.
 
Zahid, 69, faces 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million from UKSB for himself as home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the OSC 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.

Mahendran said the money was given to Zahid by UKSB on a monthly basis, starting at S$200,000 per month from October 2014 to February 2015, before being increased to S$300,000 per month from March 2015 to June 2017 and later to S$520,000 per month from July 2017 to March 2018.

The witness said apart from the monthly donations, UKSB also made several one-off payments to Zahid between June 2015 and March 2018, namely RM125,000 for Hari Raya in June 2015, S$120,000 in August 2015, 15,000 Swiss francs in May 2016, US$15,000 in July 2016, S$1 million for Umno's 71st anniversary in May 2017, S$30,000 for his wife’s birthday in October 2017 and RM3 million in March 2018 for the general election that year.

"All this money was given to him at his house in Country Heights, Kajang and his official residence at Seri Satria, Putrajaya," Mahendran said.
 
The 18th prosecution witness said his investigation also revealed that the money given to Zahid was not from UKSB’s account.

"Based on UKSB’s financial statements from 2014 to 2018, the company’s profit after tax was RM625,033 in 2014, RM114,572 in 2015, RM4,913,446 in 2016, RM2,821,144 in 2017 and RM351,739 in 2018.

"However, the sources of money used by UKSB to give to Zahid were the result of a verbal understanding between UKSB and several companies, namely Visa Malaysia Ltd, Maintech System HK Ltd (in Hong Kong), Valiant Capital Corporation, Galaxy Services Corporation and (Labuan-based) Lotus Capital Corporation," he said.

The trial before judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues.