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KUALA LUMPUR – The prosecution team in Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) graft trial told the high court today that the former deputy prime minister had accepted funds from the company despite being a public servant.
Deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran said Zahid, who was then a cabinet minister, had obtained cash from UKSB, which is a contractor appointed by the ministry.
She added that prosecution witness Sheba Kunmiho had provided testimony that Zahid’s appointment as home minister in May 2013 was subsequently gazetted, proving his position as a public official.
“He (Zahid) was a public servant as defined under Section 21(i) of the Penal Code,” she said, as quoted by Free Malaysia Today.
“He was entrusted to perform a public duty, and he received payment for that.”
Rozela, who is also the prosecution team lead, argued that Zahid was aware of UKSB having business ties with the Home Ministry prior to his appointment, noting that witnesses have demonstrated the matter through documentary evidence and oral testimonies.
She also said that UKSB directors Harry Lee and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani met Zahid between 2013 and 2018.
“This constituted a business relationship, as they met Zahid at his official residence to extend (UKSB’s) contracts with the ministry,” she said, adding that Zahid also displayed unfair favouritism to the company in exchange for a “valuable thing” in the form of cash.
She said that while Zahid did not request for specific figures as payment, Lee and Wan Quoris paid him S$200,000 (RM640,646), S$300,000 and S$520,0000 every month.
Addressing the attack that the prosecution’s case cannot stand because the cash payments did not come from UKSB and were instead from other sources, she said that “source of money is not a material consideration, as it is not an element to be proven under Section 165 of the Penal Code”.
She then concluded that the prosecution had adduced valid evidence on all ingredients of the offence and that Zahid should be called to enter his defence.
Zahid, 69, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM43.33 million) from UKSB for himself as home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of one-stop-centre services in China and the VLN system, as well as to maintain the contract agreement to supply the VLN integrated system to the same company by the Home Ministry.
On another seven counts, he was charged with obtaining for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss franc (RM68,519) and US$15,000 (RM67,395) from the same company, which has official links with his official duty.
He was charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights, Kajang between October 2014 and March 2018.
The prosecution will continue its submission before judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa. – The Vibes, September 6, 2022
