The High Court was told today that former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was not transparent and did not follow procedures when extending the contract of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd for the Foreign Visa System project.
Former Home Ministry deputy secretary-general (Policy and Control) Suriani Ahmad said Zahid, 68, who was the then home minister, approved the contract extension in a short time without evaluating the performance of Ultra Kirana.
Suriani said the evaluation of a company's performance was important because the company would carry the country's image and it was the government's responsibility to ensure that all processes were implemented properly.
Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin whether the application was still approved even though no assessment was made, Suriani replied: "Yes".
The fourth prosecution witness said this on the seventh day of the trial of Zahid (above), who is facing 40 corruption charges relating to the Foreign Visa System project.
Wan Shaharuddin: In this application, does UKSB follow the procedures?
Suriani: For work procedure, it follows the procedure. However, in terms of approval, it is not in accordance with the procedure.
Wan Shaharuddin: Although Datuk (Suriani) did not have the opportunity to evaluate UKSB's performance, why continue to extend the contract?
Suriani: Because the instruction from the minister is to extend the contract. As a civil servant, I complied with the instructions because at that time Ahmad Zahid was the deputy prime minister.
Suriani also said Zahid took less than 24 hours to approve several applications for extending Ultra Kirana's contract with the government.
She said a letter from Ultra Kirana dated Oct 17, 2016 for approval to extend the contract period of the Foreign Visa System and eVisa System for six years was approved by Zahid and minuted on Oct 18, 2016.
"Besides that, UKSB's letter dated May 15, 2017 to Ahmad Zahid for the One-Stop Centre (OSC) contract extension was also minuted by Ahmad Zahid on May 16, 2017," she said.
Application to extend contract made 'too early'
The witness also agreed with Wan Shaharuddin's suggestion that there was no need to expedite the application for an extension of the contract.
She said the application made by Ultra Kirana was too early because the existing contract was still far from its expiration.
According to clause 2.2.1 of the Agreement to Supply Foreign Visa Integrated System, the company could apply for contract extension no less than six months before its expiry.
“But for this application, UKSB applied too soon, that is in October 2016, about three years before the contract expired.
“Therefore, the Home Ministry does not have sufficient time to evaluate the performance of UKSB to decide whether the contract should be extended or not," she said.
Meanwhile, during a cross-examination by Zahid’s lawyer, Ahmad Zaidi Zainal, Suriani agreed with his suggestion that the foreign visa system managed by Ultra Kirana never received complaints until the Pakatan Harapan government took over.
The witness also agreed with the lawyer's suggestion that Zahid made the decision to shorten the contract extension period, from six to three years, after discussion with relevant parties.
Zahid is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd.
The amount was allegedly an inducement for himself in his capacity as a civil servant and the then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of OSC in China and the foreign visa system.
The alleged contract extension was purportedly also to maintain the agreement to supply the foreign visa system paraphernalia to the same company by the home ministry.
For another seven charges, Zahid was charged as home minister for accepting S$1,150,000, RM3,000,000, €15,000 (RM73,000), and US$15,000 (RM62,115) in cash from the same company which he knew had a connection with his function as then home minister.
The trial before Judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues on Oct 22.
- Bernama
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