'PM's private secretary pocketed RM200m'

A private secretary to the Prime Minister has been accused of misappropriating funds and accumulating an "extraordinary" amount of wealth of some RM200 million – allegations which were exposed in a set of documents purportedly leaked by an insider.

Calling for an explanation, PKR leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin yesterday wrote an open letter to the private secretary, Zakiah Ibrahim, who was named in the document.

"I am writing this open letter to seek an immediate explanation from Zakiah. This information could be false but as civil servant, you should be responsible and look clean and answer to the public," he said.

"You can deny it, but you would need to explain it. I hope Zakiah could respond to this issue with an open heart to explain the truth of the matter to safeguard public interest, " wrote Badrul, more popularly known as Chegubard.

In his letter, Badrul said he had received information in the form of documents from an individual claiming to be an "insider" in the Prime Minister's Office. The documents linked Zakiah with misappropriation and extraordinary accumulation of wealth.

The same set of documents were also released to some media organisations recently.

"The informant had called Zakiah 'Zakaya' and described her as 'a woman with immense influence in the Prime Minister's Office'. It also alleged that she was someone who shuns publicity but in secret accumulated wealth amounting to RM200 million in less than three years while in control in the PM's Office," said Badrul.

Calling the shots

Badrul said the "informant" also alleged that Zakiah wielded more power than even the Minister of Finance II (Ahmad) Husni (Mohamad) Hanazlah – she was an individual who can decide who would be able to get projects through direct negotiation or restricted tender in the Ministry of Finance.

"The informant also alleged that Zakiah has secretly accumulated RM200 million through two of her friends – Norida Hamzah, the CEO of Aero Tree Defence & Services Sdn Bhd and Halim Othman, the former officer in Sri Satria and the 'nominee director' for Zakiah," wrote Badrul.

Zakiah's alleged modus operandi was to switch the proposals of chosen companies to the companies of Norida and Halim or call up the Umno division heads or members of the royalty who successfully won the tender to share the wealth with her.

It was also alleged that if the parties do not agree to sharing, Zakiah would also purposely lose the files for the project.

"The informant also stated that Zakiah uses a room located just beside that of the Prime Minister and would decide to control and change companies that receive government contracts whether for Umno division heads, royalty or even her own cronies," he said.

Badrul said the informant also alleged that another privilege enjoyed by Zakiah is to be able to personally contact ministers for discussion so that the project can be shared with her and the ministers or senior officers of the ministry.

Badrul said the source also revealed two documents linking Zakiah to two companies which have obtained RM200 million loan from Bank Pembangunan and Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd for projects worth RM20 million.

Repeated attempts by FMT to reach Zakiah for comments via phone at her office at the finance ministry today were unsuccessful. Her personal assistant, "Ayu", said Zakiah was busy. -FMT