BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s testimony at the High Court today offered a rare glimpse into how the coalition finances its by-elections.
In his witness statement, Tengku Adnan said it was a “usual practice” for Umno to raise funds for by-election campaigns through “political donations”.
For the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections in 2016, Tengku Adnan said he approached Chai Kin Kong, the boss of property developer Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd, who allegedly was a regular donor to Umno and BN since 1999.
“In general, political donations were made in cash because money was required to pay for campaign expenses and time was quite short.
“However, Chai informed me that it would be difficult to raise cash in a short period of time and he instead gave me a cheque on or around June 14, 2016,” he said.
The cheque was made to Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, of which Tengku Adnan controls. Tengku Adnan said the money arrived late because the by-elections were held on June 18, 2016.
Tengku Adnan said he could not wait for Chai’s cheque so he had advanced a total of RM2,020,800 from his own pocket for the by-election campaigns.
Of this amount, RM1,013,200 went to Bandar Tun Razak Umno division head Rizalman Mokhtar to be used by the Federal Territories BN campaign team for the Sungai Besar by-election campaign.
“This money was used for expenses including accommodation, travelling, daily allowances, food and drink, campaign materials and other incidental expenses for the Sungai Besar by-election,” he said.
Another RM1,007,600 went to Simpang Renggam Umno division head Zakaria Dullah.
Tengku Adnan said Zakaria used the money for the BN Youth Volunteer Project, which involved some 1,000 youths participating in the by-election campaign.
“(The) BN Youth Volunteer Project assisted in election operations by organising tuition, communal work, sports activities and seminars… they were also involved in the ‘majlis berbuka puasa’ and ‘sahur’ (events).
“The youth were also involved in distributing food, groceries such as biscuits, coffee, milo, sugar and tea as well as T-shirts to the community,” he said.
Tengku Adnan said that for both instances, he had earmarked the donation from Chai as the source of funds and had used his own money as an advance.
He said Chai was issued a receipt with the number 09-376241 dated June 14, 2016 by Umno for the RM2 million donation.
The receipt bore Tengku Adnan’s signature and was tendered as evidence prior to the defence being called.
However, he testified that Umno’s receipt books were not under “strict control” as they were kept at the Umno headquarters and multiple staff have access to it.
“The official receipt books are used randomly, not according to book number or receipt number,” he said.
Tengku Adnan testified that he had no need for the RM2 million as he was already wealthy even before his foray into politics.
He said Tadmansori Holdings was a family business which deals in manufacturing, trading, agriculture, food, hotel and other activities.
He said he was comfortable financially and absolutely had no intention to receive the RM2 million for his own use.
“I wish to add that if I had intended to utilise the money for myself, I would not have deposited that cheque into the company account of Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd.
“I have a wide experience in the business field and I knew that the bank documents would reflect that the cheque was deposited into the company’s account,” he said.
Tengku Adnan has been charged with receiving the RM2 million, in his capacity as Federal Territories minister, through his company from Chai.
Prosecutors are accusing Tengku Adnan of violating Section 165 of the Penal Code, which prohibits a public servant from obtaining something of value from a person with vested interest.
If found guilty, Tengku Adnan can be jailed up to two years, fined or both. -mkini
I didn’t need RM2 mil ‘political donation’, Ku Nan tells court
KUALA LUMPUR: Former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told the High Court today that he did not personally benefit from RM2 million given by a businessman to his company in 2016 as the money was meant as a “political donation”.
He said that the money, from Chai Kin Kong, was meant to help Umno in the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections on June 18, 2016. The party’s candidates, Mastura Mohd Yazid and Budiman Zohdi, subsequently won both seats.
“With humility, I wish to state that I did not need the RM2 million money for myself.
“Before I joined the Cabinet in 2001 at the request of the then prime minister, I was a successful businessman and was involved in various businesses such as real estate, logging, manufacturing, trading, agricultural, hotel, livestock and food,” he said while testifying in his corruption case.
The prosecution previously said that Tengku Adnan had received money from Chai, a director in Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd, for both by-elections and that the businessman had dealings with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), which comes under Tengku Adnan’s ministry, as he wanted to buy two plots of land from the council.
Tengku Adnan said he asked Chai, whom he had known for over 30 years, to make a contribution to Umno and Barisan Nasional as they needed about RM5 million for the two by-elections.
“At that time, he (Chai) did not promise to donate any amount to Umno or BN but only stated that he would make a donation later.
“Later, he came back to me and said that he would donate RM2 million for the by-elections,” Tengku Adnan said.
Tengku Adnan also said that the businessman told him that he would not be able to raise RM2 million in cash in time for the by-elections.
“I have to use my own money first to pay for Umno’s expenses. He (Chai) only managed to hand me a RM2 million cheque a few days before the polling date,” he said.
Tengku Adnan said he had used around RM2 million from his own account to pay for the expenses and community activities that Umno carried out in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar.
Previously, a bank officer from CIMB, Khairolrony Kamarudin testified that RM2 million from Chai’s Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd was deposited into the account of Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd and Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) registrar Muhammad Akmaludin Abdullah said that Tengku Adnan was Tadmansori’s biggest shareholder.
Lawyer Tan Hock Chuan had earlier told the court that the defence would show, through oral and documentary evidence, that Tengku Adnan did not commit an offence under Section 165 of Penal Code, where he was charged with allegedly receiving valuables without consideration as a public servant.
“We will be calling three to six witnesses for the defence case,” he added.
Tengku Adnan, commonly known as “Ku Nan”, was accused of receiving RM2 million from Chai, who was Aset Kayamas’s director, despite knowing that the businessman’s companies had dealings with the federal territories ministry which was under him at the time.
Tan also said that the defence would also be making an application to the court to have in-camera proceedings for Tengku Adnan to tender documents on his asset declarations.
“The documents are sensitive but they are important for our defence case,” he added.
In response, deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim told the court that the prosecution wanted to see a proper application before deciding on whether to object.
The hearing continues on Jan 20 before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan. The court will also hear the defence’s application to hold the in-camera proceedings. – FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
MKINI / FMT
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