KUALA LUMPUR: Former home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the High Court here that he had never promised to award a RM50 million MyEG project to a company after the general election (GE14) in 2018.
Zahid said someone else could have guaranteed the project but maintained it was not him.
“MyEG was not under me. How could I (have made such a) promise when the project was not from us (home ministry)?” he said when cross-examined by deputy public prosecutor Afif Ali.
Zahid, who is the Umno president, said the final approval for any government-initiated projects came from the finance ministry.
The defence’s case is that some RM13 million was paid by businessman Junaith Asharab Md Shariff to Zahid’s Yayasan Akalbudi in 2016 to build mosques and tahfiz schools in his parliamentary constituency, Bagan Datuk.
Junaith is also alleged to have sought the assistance of another businessman, M Kumaraguru, to register Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services in order to undertake the MyEG project.
However, the plan did not materialise after Barisan Nasional (BN) lost in GE14, on May 9, 2018, and Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over Putrajaya.
Zahid said he had never even heard of Mastoro Kenny when he was home minister.
He said he only knew such a firm existed when Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers asked about the company while he was under investigation in 2018 and when he was questioned in court during this ongoing trial.
Afif: I put it to you that the MyEG project was promised to Junaith after the 2018 general election.
Zahid: I totally deny it.
The Umno president said his brother Nasaee introduced Junaith to him at a surau in Country Heights in Kajang in 2015 and that they met later at a Hari Raya event the following year.
“All I know is that Junaith is a money changer and brings investors from South Asian countries,” he said.
However, Zahid admitted that he could have told Junaith that he needed money to carry out religious and charitable projects in Bagan Datuk.
Afif: I put it to you that Junaith promised you RM10 million at the Hari Raya event.
Zahid: He comes from a rich family and could contribute more than RM10 million.
Zahid, 69, is standing trial on 12 criminal breach of trust, eight corruption and 27 money laundering charges amounting to millions of ringgit.
Two of the eight graft charges are related to Mastoro, where he is said to have accepted RM8 million and RM5 million in 23 cheques from Junaith.
The money was deposited into the clients account of Lewis & Co which is the trustee for Yayasan Akalbudi.
The hearing before Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.