KUALA LUMPUR: The former deputy chief private secretary (TKSUS) to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin testified in the Sessions Court today that he had met with Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s representative on the Jana Wibawa project.
Asmar Asmadi Abdullah Sani, 49, who was serving Muhyiddin when he was the Prime Minister, stated that several individuals had met directly with Muhyiddin on applying for the project before approaching him.
“My meeting with them was to receive letters of application or expressions of interest, as noted by Tan Sri Muhyiddin, along with company profiles,“ he said.
“One of the individuals I met was Datuk Hishamuddin Abdul Karim, who represented Wan Saiful. Datuk Hishamuddin met with me at my office at the Prime Minister’s Department, Putrajaya, to submit the project application documents around 2021,“ he explained.
The 19th prosecution witness was reading out his witness statement during the trial of Wan Saiful, the former Bersatu Information chief, who is facing 18 money laundering and two corruption charges related to the Jana Wibawa project.
Asmar Asmadi, who is currently the Policy and Strategic Planning Division secretary at the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development, said he did not know Hishamuddin before March 2021.
“When he came to meet with me at the Prime Minister’s Office at the time, I recall being initially hesitant to meet him because I did not know him, and as far as I knew, I had no dealings with him,“ Asmar explained.
“However, after he introduced himself as Datuk Hishamuddin, a representative of Datuk Wan Saifulruddin, I informed him that I needed to obtain confirmation from Tan Sri Muhyiddin.
Our meeting was brief, only about 15 minutes,“ he continued, under examination by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Siti Amirah Muhammad Ali.
Asmar said a few days later, Hishamuddin met him again to inquire about the status of the company’s application related to the Jana Wibawa project, which had been brought up by Wan Saiful during a meeting with Muhyiddin.
“If I’m not mistaken, Datuk Hishamuddin told me that the company’s name was MCS Management Sdn Bhd. I conducted a check on the company and found that it had been approved, but as pre-qualified according to Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s minutes dated March 4, 2021, on the MCS Management’s application letter,“ he added.
The witness also confirmed receiving a letter of application from MCS Management, addressed to Muhyiddin, to secure the Central Spine Road: Sertik to East Coast Highway interchange project through direct negotiation.
“This is the letter referred to by Datuk Hishamuddin during our meeting. He informed me that this letter of interest had been presented by Datuk Wan Saiful during his meeting with Tan Sri Muhyiddin to secure the Jana Wibawa project,“ the witness stated.
“I reiterated to Datuk Hishamuddin, as per the instructions from Tan Sri Muhyiddin and the Minister of Finance, that any project approval applications for pre-qualification must be complete with five company submissions before being forwarded to Datuk Wan Murtadza Wan Mahmud, who was then the senior private secretary to the Minister of Finance (Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz) for further action,“ he added.
Asmar Asmadi told the court that he later received five letters of application for pre-qualification tenders to undertake the Central Spine Road project from his personal assistant at the time, Rajmah Mohd Jamal.
He noted that the applications came from MCS Management Sdn Bhd, MK Services Sdn Bhd, CKJ Engineering & Services Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, and MZ Hakujaya Sdn Bhd, all of which had been forwarded by Hishamuddin to Rajmah.
However, the witness stated that he was unaware of the ownership of these companies, as his role was limited to managing the list of companies that had been minuted and directed by Muhyiddin, emphasising that he had no involvement in their initial application process.
Meanwhile, Wan Saiful’s lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, objected to several paragraphs mentioning Muhyiddin and his client, arguing that the statements constituted hearsay.
However, DPPs Siti Amirah and Dr. Ifa Sirrhu Samsudin contended that the evidence was not hearsay and that the prosecution witness should be allowed to read his witness statement in full.
Judge Rosli Ahmad then ruled that the defence would have the opportunity to cross-examine the witness and scheduled the trial to resume on Feb 24.
Wan Saiful, 49, is accused of soliciting a bribe from Lian Tan Chuan as an inducement to assist Nepturis Sdn Bhd secure the Central Spine Road: Sertik to East Coast Highway intersection project from the Malaysian government, a pre-awarded project valued at RM232 million.
He is also accused of receiving RM6,962,694.54 in cash into his company WSA Advisory Group Sdn Bhd’s CIMB Bank Berhad account from Nepturis’ Maybank Islamic Berhad account as payment for helping the company obtain the Security, Safety, and Technical (SST) requirements for the same project.
Both offences were allegedly committed at the Royal Lake Club, Taman Tasik Perdana in April 2022, and at CIMB Bank Berhad Bukit Tunku Branch between July 8 and Sept 30, 2022.
Additionally, Wan Saiful faces 18 charges of money laundering involving RM5.59 million, including transferring and utilising illegal proceeds, such as paying for a Ford Ranger vehicle, payments to the National Sports Council of Malaysia, and funds transfers to several company accounts, including Sinar Karangkraf Sdn Bhd’s account at CIMB Bank Berhad Bukit Tunku Branch, between Aug 12 and Nov 13, 2022.
