FACT CHECK | Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was accused of receiving RM1.3 million from a firm that allegedly paid bribes to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Following this, Muhyiddin refuted the allegation and claimed he was undergoing treatment abroad during one of the alleged payment dates.
This instalment of Fact Check will examine his whereabouts during the time the alleged payments were made.
Recap
A witness dropped a bombshell during Zahid’s bribery trial last Friday when he testified that his company made cash payments to several politicians.
During the proceedings, David Tan Siong Sun, the former administrative manager of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB), was shown a company ledger and asked to identify several acronyms.
Among others, Tan identified "TSM" as "Tan Sri Muhyiddin" and that Muhyiddin - the home minister at the material time - was paid RM1.3 million in cash, split into three tranches.
"On June 4, 2018, it was RM300,000; on July 4, it was RM500,000 and on Aug 23, it was RM500,000," said the witness, according to the national news agency Bernama.
Tan's testimony was given during the trial against Zahid for 40 counts of soliciting bribes, in multiple currencies, from UKSB amounting to slightly over RM48 million (at today's exchange rate).
The offences were allegedly committed between October 2014 and March 2018. Zahid was the home minister during the period. Muhyiddin succeeded Zahid in May 2018.
Muhyiddin: I was abroad
Muhyiddin has denied Tan's testimony and if the information disclosed in court was false, the latter can be tried for perjury.
According to Muhyiddin, he could not have received the funds at the dates stated by Tan because he was abroad at the time. A translation of the salient points of Muhyiddin's statement is as follows:
"At the time, I had to undergo surgery due to cancer and took leave for several months for further treatment. My duties as home minister were taken over by the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. This was widely reported.
"In fact, on a tarikh tertentu (a certain date) stated by the witness... I was undergoing treatment at a hospital abroad. It would be impossible for me to receive the inducement from anyone at that time. The allegation is baseless," he claimed.
Muhyiddin said he never received any money from Tan or others from UKSB. He added that he was never investigated by the authorities on this matter and was willing to be probed.
Given this, he urged the prosecution to elaborate on the matter which he said defamed him.
'Payments' before and after
Muhyiddin was among the first batch of Pakatan Harapan cabinet ministers sworn in on May 21, 2018.
The first payment of RM300,000, as alleged by Tan, occurred just 14 days later on June 4 while the second payment of RM500,000 was allegedly made on July 4.
The very next day, Muhyiddin attended the Home Ministry's Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house event in Putrajaya.
At the event, Muhyiddin, on behalf of the federal government, accepted an RM1 million cheque from Home Ministry contractor Datasonic Group meant for the Tabung Harapan Malaysia fund.
Muhyiddin would go on medical leave on July 12 with Mahathir taking over the Home Ministry. Muhyiddin received treatment related to pancreatic cancer in Singapore.
Muhyiddin was discharged on Aug 7. On Aug 13, he was in the Dewan Rakyat to be sworn in as Pagoh MP.
The alleged third payment of RM500,000 took place 10 days later on Aug 23.
Uncertain dates
Muhyiddin, in his statement, said during a “tarikh tertentu” (a certain date) when the alleged payment was made, he was abroad receiving treatment.
He did not specify which of the three dates mentioned by Tan was the date in question.
Malaysiakini has reached out to Muhyiddin's office to seek clarity on the "tarikh tertentu". At the time of writing, there has been no response.
Preliminary checks on local and Singaporean media archives failed to locate reports that Muhyiddin was abroad on those dates.
Former Umno president Najib Abdul Razak latched on to the ambiguity surrounding the "tarikh tertentu" and wrote about this twice on his Facebook page.
From Najib's perspective, Muhyiddin "lied" about not being in the country during the three dates.
"We urge that the Bersatu information chief (Wan Saiful Wan Jan)... explain. Do you work? Doesn't the information chief have some explaining to do?" asked Najib on his Facebook page yesterday.
Conclusion
From publicly available information, it is not possible to ascertain if Muhyiddin was abroad on June 4, July 4 and Aug 23 in 2018.
During the period between Muhyiddin going on medical leave (July 12, 2018) and taking his oath of office as an MP (Aug 13, 2018) he was, for the most part, abroad.
However, this period was between July 4, 2018, and Aug 23, 2018, whereby Tan claimed Muhyiddin was paid RM1 million in cash in two equal payments.
In the absence of Muhyiddin's office shedding more light - including invoices for treatment or immigration stamps on his diplomatic passport - it cannot be concluded that Muhyiddin's denial matched the information provided by Tan on the three alleged payments. - Mkini
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