RM223,000 holiday refund deposited into Azlan’s account, says witness

 

Former Perlis menteri besar Azlan Man (right) faces 10 charges of submitting false claims and receiving proceeds from unlawful activities. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A former sales manager of Aidil Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd testified in the sessions court today that almost RM223,000 was deposited into the personal bank account of Azlan Man after the former Perlis menteri besar cancelled a family holiday to London in 2016.

Abdul Rahim Halim, 47, said the trip, scheduled from Dec 23, 2016, to Jan 1, 2017, cost more than RM253,000 and was paid for by the Perlis government.

“The 2016 vacation did not proceed, but a sum of almost RM223,000 was refunded to Azlan’s personal account via a cheque dated Jan 24, 2017, following instructions from the then senior private secretary to the menteri besar, Herwadey Hashim.

This sum reflects a 12% deduction from the full amount paid, as a service charge to Aidil Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd,

 he said.

Rahim was reading his witness statement on the sixth day of the former Bintong assemblyman’s trial on 10 charges of submitting false claims and receiving proceeds from unlawful activities.

Rahim said he handed the refund cheque to Herwadey at Alamanda, Putrajaya, in 2017.

He added that the state government also booked a package for Azlan and his family to London between Nov 23 and 30, 2017, and approved a payment of a little more than RM244,000 to Aidil Travel & Tours.

Herwadey contacted me and requested that I prepare a quotation for the menteri besar’s family trip to London, based on the amount to which he was entitled,

 Rahim, now a director at Corporate Travel Advisor Sdn Bhd, said.

When deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah asked why the witness agreed with Azlan’s lawyer, Azhar Amir, that the travel agency took no action after receiving the payment for the vacation package, Rahim responded: 

I was instructed by Herwadey to return the money to the menteri besar.

Haresh: Why did you agree with the lawyer that the vacation tickets were never booked because they never existed, yet in your witness statement, you said there was a cancellation of the vacation package?

Rahim: The cancellation refers to the quotation I provided earlier.

Azlan, 65, faces five counts of making false claims of more than RM1.18 million in overseas vacation allowances, allegedly committed at the Perlis state secretary’s office, Kompleks Dewan Undangan Negeri, Persiaran Wawasan, Kangar, between December 2013 and December 2017.

The charges involve quotations for flights to London and invoices from Sri Kedawang Travel & Tours (W) Sdn Bhd and Aidil Travel & Tours.

He also pleaded not guilty to five counts of receiving money from illicit activities totalling RM1.06 million between Feb 19, 2014 and December 2017 at the Maybank branch in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur, CIMB Bank in Putrajaya and Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for the same period.

The hearing before judge Azura Alwi resumes tomorrow. - FMT