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KUALA LUMPUR – The former group chief financial officer (CFO) of the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra) told the sessions court today that he had received direct instructions from Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin to expedite the board of directors’ resolution on Felcra’s RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Bhd’s unit trusts.
Mohd Azmy Abu Samah, 54, said that as an employee, he only followed the instructions given as Bung Moktar had approved his appointment as CFO at the agency.
“At that time, I still didn’t understand there was a situation, that there was an office ‘cold war’ at Felcra. I didn’t want to get involved because I was still new. Furthermore, the Felcra chairman (Bung) had approved my post as CFO,” said the 26th prosecution witness during the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Sophian Zakaria at the corruption trial involving Bung Moktar and his wife Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad.
In previous proceedings, Azmy told the court that chief investment officer Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope had advised him on the “cold war” between the old and new teams, and that there was a possibility that relations between the chairman (Bung Moktar) and chief executive officer Datuk Ramlee Abu Bakar was not good.
When asked by Sophian what would happen if he did not follow Bung Moktar's instructions, Azmy replied: “At that time, I did not think about the matter at all.”
When asked whether the witness had met Bung Moktar and why he needed to get direct instructions from the politician, Azmy said he did not ask about the matter.
Touching on Felcra’s investment in Public Mutual Bhd’s unit trusts, Azmy said he had been advised not to report it as the investment proposal came from Bung Moktar.
Azmy told the court in his testimony earlier that the Finance Ministry had agreed to approve Felcra’s RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Bhd's unit trusts after examining three investment proposal papers submitted by Bung Moktar.
When asked by Sophian why he did not report on the development of the investment to Ramlee, the witness replied: “Before the investment, it was not reported, but after the investment was made, the matter was brought to the top management council’s meeting.”
In his reply to a question about his relationship with Bung Moktar’s wife, Zizie, Azmy said that they did not have either a casual or professional relationship because he had only met the actress twice and they had never talked.
According to Azmy, he also did not know about Zizie’s involvement in the investment and had never discussed it with the actress.
The proceeding before Judge Rozina Ayob continues on April 8.
On May 3, 2019, Bung Moktar, 64, pleaded not guilty to two charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM2.2 million and RM262,500 as an inducement to obtain Felcra’s approval to invest RM150 million in Public Mutual unit trusts.
Bung Moktar, the non-executive chairman of Felcra at the time, was accused of accepting bribes from Public Mutual Bhd’s investment agent Madhi Abdul Hamid through Zizie at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch here between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.
He also pleaded not guilty to accepting an RM335,500 cash bribe from Norhaili under Zizie’s name for similar reasons, at the same place on June 19, 2015, while Zizie, 44, pleaded not guilty to three charges of abetting her husband in the matter at the same place, date and time. – Bernama, April 6, 2022