Who's who in UKSB's alleged ledger kickbacks

 

KINIGUIDE | Corruption cases in Malaysian courts have not ceased, showing that more allegations are being revealed against our politicians.

Lately, several prominent figures were implicated when a witness testified during the graft trial of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi involving the foreign visa system (VLN) in the High Court in Shah Alam, Selangor.

The secret ledger of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB), which contained code names and details of alleged payments of kickbacks made by the company to several individuals between 2014 and 2018, was submitted in court as evidence.

Among others, the names of Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin were revealed.

The testimony has led to leaders from Pakatan Harapan, Umno and Bersatu making statements, and the MACC opening investigation papers.

This instalment of KiniGuide will explain in detail the scandal surrounding this UKSB ledger.

What emerged in Zahid’s trial?

The UKSB ledger revealed several politicians allegedly receiving payments from the company.

The witnesses who testified included UKSB’s director Fadzil Ahmad (14th witness), former directors Harry Lee (15th witness) and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani (16th witness) and its former administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun (17th witness).

How is UKSB involved?

UKSB is a company at the heart of Zahid's corruption trial involving the visa system.

Established in 2009, UKSB handled Malaysian visas for foreigners and the VLN authorised by the government was previously applicable in China, India, Nepal and Myanmar.

It was revealed in court that Wan Quoris is the largest shareholder, with a 40 percent stake in the company, followed by HRL Capital Sdn Bhd and Seri Optima Sdn Bhd, each holding a 20 percent stake.

In his testimony, Tan said the company sourced funds from Hong Kong to pay Zahid and that he had to ask for the company's business partners there for the funds as the UKSB did not have enough money to cover the payments.

The former administrative manager testified that the money that UKSB used for the monthly and one-time payments was not taken from UKSB’s accounts.

"The funds from Hong Kong would be channelled into Malaysia through money changers in Kuala Lumpur, and then passed on to me in cash. After receiving the cash, I would keep it in the company safe box first, and when the time came for us to make the delivery, I would then take out the required amount and put it in a sealed envelope," Tan told the court.

He also said he had once delivered a luggage bag containing RM3 million to Zahid at his official residence, Seri Satria in Putrajaya.

What about the secret ledger?

The UKSB ledger was recorded by Tan, who was in charge of preparing the cash to be delivered to Zahid from October 2014 to August 2018.

"I prepared a ledger using Microsoft Excel on my personal laptop. I’m not an accountant by training, so the ledger was just a simple record of money in, money out," he said.

Tan added that the main entries in the ledger were the amounts available for each month, the amounts withdrawn and the name or nickname of the intended receiver.

"The individuals named in the ledger included ministers, politicians and government servants. Usually, I would key in the entries daily, but on some busy days, I would write down on a piece of paper first before keying in the details in the ledger later in the day or the next day," he testified.

Tan also said he used the code names because he was worried that the ledger might be exposed to other people.

Who are the politicians and what have they allegedly received?

The politicians mentioned in the UKSB ledger are either still with Umno or have quit the Malay-based party.

Apart from Zahid, others named are Muhyiddin, who is also a former prime minister, Khairy, Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Housing and Local Government Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Warisan president Shafie Apdal and former foreign minister Anifah Aman.

(a) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

While Zahid is not named in the UKSB ledger, code names such as “monster”, “young boy”, “yb”, “z”, “zh” and “mon” in the files refer to this Umno president.

According to witness Wan Quoris, the company paid Zahid from 2014 to 2018 in order to secure a contract from the Home Ministry, which was then helmed by Zahid.

Former director Lee testified that the company paid S$200,000 (RM630,000) per month in 2014 and the payment increased to S$520,000 (RM165,000) per month sometime in 2017.

(b) Muhyiddin Yassin

The “TSM” recorded in the UKSB ledger refers to Muhyiddin, who was appointed as home minister during the Harapan era.

Tan testified that the company had given RM1.3 million to Muhyiddin in cash payments on June 4, July 4 and Aug 23, 2018.

In an immediate response, Muhyiddin disputed the testimony, saying that in July 2018, he had undergone surgery for cancer and had gone on leave for several months.

(c) Khairy Jamaluddin

The “KJ”, “Alamak” and “Bukit Damansara” recorded in the UKSB ledger refer to the health minister, the court heard.

Wan Quoris testified that they donated RM50,000 to RM200,000 to Khairy when he was the youth and sports minister.

He said the contributions were channelled through the Rembau division and not given directly to Khairy, also known as KJ, who was then the deputy head of the division.

Meanwhile, Tan also confirmed that Khairy was paid RM3.7 million as recorded in the ledger.

Wan Quoris further testified that Khairy was not involved in the VLN case.

(d) Reezal Merican Naina Merican

While it is not known what was Reezal’s code name in the ledger, it was revealed that a forensic report from MACC showed he had received between RM200,000 and RM300,000.

(e) Hishammuddin Hussein

Court testimony did not reveal any code name for this minister.

However, according to a former staff of the Immigration Affairs Department, Djuliana Jamaludin, Hishammuddin had granted the approval for UKSB’s application to implement the Visa Application Management System 1 Stop Centre in China for a concession period of seven years.

(f) Shafie Apdal

The code name of “MOR” in the UKSB ledger refers to Shafie, who was then a rural and regional development minister.

However, there were no details on the benefit given to the Warisan president.

(g) Anifah Aman

The code name “FM” in the ledger refers to Anifah, who was the foreign minister then.

His name was mentioned in court without any details given by the witness.

Anifah, who is the president of Parti Cinta Malaysia, denied receiving bribes and said he was prepared to facilitate the probe.

Other code names revealed in court included “bomoh”, “KPU”, “SUB” and “AK”. It was reported that KPU refers to the director-general while SUB is the division secretary, while AK is the initial for Akbar Khan.

What are the charges against Zahid?

Zahid, 69, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from UKSB as 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 the One-Stop Centre (OSC) in China and the VLN as well as to maintain the agreement to supply VLN integrated system paraphernalia to the same company by the Home Ministry.

On another seven counts, he is charged as then home minister to have obtained for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company in connection with his official work.

Zahid is charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Presint 16, Putrajaya, and at Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018. - Mkini