The firm which was to receive a RM10 million commission for facilitating Felda Investment Corporation (FIC)'s purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel in Kuching said it surrendered RM9 million of that to "build trust" in Sarawak.
Sales agent JV Evolution Sdn Bhd's director Azizi Abdul Wahab told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that he was told the amount was for a Sarawak political fund.
He also testified that he did not know that part of it would go to former Felda chairperson Mohd Isa Samad. Isa is accused of taking bribes totalling RM3 million related to the deal.
"We wanted to build trust. We considered our agreement (to surrender the RM9 million to the political fund) as an investment for the opportunity to establish ourselves in Sarawak.
"By trust, we mean that we would execute what was asked of us and we wanted him to believe we are reliable," he told the court.
Azizi was referring to former Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd director Ikhwan Zaidel who told him the RM9 million would go to a political fund.
Gegaan Abadi, owner of the hotel, appointed JV Evolution as a sales agent with the promise that JV Evolution could pocket the difference if it could sell the hotel for more than RM150 million. FIC bought the hotel for RM160 million.
"I only dealt with Ikhwan the entire time. I did not know the money I gave to Ikhwan was for Isa Samad," he said.
"I had never met or dealt with Isa Samad. I only met with Zahid Mohd Arip (Isa's special officer) when introduced by Ikhwan and during my visit to the Merdeka Palace Hotel," he added.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Nithtia Sivasamy asked Azizi to explain why he did not agree with Isa's lawyer Salehuddin Saidin who suggested Azizi was pressured to surrender the RM9 million to Ikhwan.
Azizi, who is 17th prosecution witness, said he and his business partner Mazeed Abdul Wahab agreed to keep RM1 million in commission and surrender the RM9 million because they were not heavily involved in the hotel's sale in 2014.
"When JV Evolution was appointed the sales agent around April 2014, Mazeed and I met Ikhwan at his home at the Sunway Opal condominium in Petaling Jaya.
"At the meeting, Ikhwan told us of the commission of RM10 million where JV Evolution would accept RM1 million of the RM10 million since we had less involvement (in the sale).
"Mazeed and I agreed," he said, reading his witness statement.
He also said that Ikhwan finally only managed to receive RM6.75 million after tax was deducted from JV Evolution's earnings.
Even so, he disagreed with Salehuddin's suggestion that JV Evolution's involvement in the sale was minimal.
"We believe we had been important because we paved the way. Without our business arrangement, the sale might not have happened. We played an important role," he said.
He said he had set up a new company to manage the Hotel Merdeka Palace deal so there would not be any conflict with his other businesses.
He also disagreed with the suggestion that he was in a complot with Ikhwan, Zahid and former FIC chief executive officer Mohd Zaid Abu Jalil to obstruct the authorities' investigations into the hotel sale and Gegasan Abadi.
"It was not my intention to lie, all the transactions were audited and recorded. So there was no complot," he said.
On Oct 18, former FIC CEO Mohd Zaid Abdul told the court that Isa asked him to pay RM160 million for the hotel for “goodwill” even though the hotel was only valued at RM153 million.
The trial presided over by judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali resumes tomorrow. - Mkini
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