An opposition leader today lodged a second police report against Ahmad Johan, the president of the country's major aircraft maintenance company Airod and revealed documents that allegedly prove financial wrongdoings.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah, who was accompanied by several other party leaders, lodged the report with the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters.

In revealing the documents, the politician questioned the propriety of the transactions recorded, which among others, show a cash cheque of RM100,000 made out to company director Abdullah Ahmad who is a retired senior army officer.

He said the payment was only explained on the voucher as an "ex-gratia" to Airod's board of directors, thus raising suspicion whether the unspecified cash transaction was above board.

Alarm bells rung, he added, because RM100,000 also matched the cheque amount that Ahmad was allegedly shown to have issued to himself.

Sivarasa, who was met after lodging the report, said he suspects the amount was what Ahmad was authorised to make without reference to the board of directors.

The allegation that Ahmad had abused his position as Airod president by issuing 34 separate RM100,000 cheques to his personal account, was first revealed in the politician's June police report .

More questionable payments

A second set of Airod documents dated only as July without specifying the year, showed that another RM100,000 payment was made to Airod senior manager Goh Boon Sai as part of the RM665,000 "marketing expense for MGB progress".

According to Sivarasa, 'MGB' is believed to be the reference for the 'main gear box' of 19 Nuri helicopters which Airod was upgrading.

The documents, a payment voucher and a cheque request form, suggested that the RM665,000 was only a 50 percent payment for the 'marketing' of 'MGB'.

The cheque request form also showed that payment was initially intended to be made out to Quality Ranch, a company in which Ahmad used to be a director, and Zanir Anwar Ariffin, general manager of public and industrial relations of another Ahmad-related company, PJS.

From these documents, Sivarasa said: "It looks like (Airod) may have changed their mind about using Quality Ranch to receive payments, and are now paying individuals instead."

"Why are their own managers being paid, when they were only purchasing parts?

"What is the basis for the payment of RM1,230,000, since RM665,000 is 50 percent payment, as "marketing expenses" for the upgrade of gearboxes? " he asked.

Golf clubs and dates

Also in the documents revealed by Sivarasa was a voucher indicating a RM8,000 cheque payment to one Syed Idros Syed Alwi, for "contributions to the Defence Minister of Malaysia, as per attached memo" on Jan 23, 1998.

The attached memo ( right ), though unverified, was shown to have been signed by Syed Idros and bore a Defence Ministry crest. It explained that payments were requested on behalf of former Defense Minister Syed Hamid Albar (left) as payment for "kurma (dates) given to Umno divisions in Johor".

Sivarasa claimed a fourth payment request, dated June 4, 2003, showed that the company bought, for RM3,900, a set of Maruman golf clubs as a corporate gift for unknown persons in the Defence Ministry.

"We ask the police and other investigating authorities to verify the name of the recipient in the ministry, and whether this gift was declared as required under the law," he added.

In June, Keadilan called for police investigations into allegations that Airod may have improperly awarded a RM5.7 million contract to a company in which Ahmad and his son used to be directors.

The company, Quality Ranch, received the payment for 'consultancy work' on a Ministry of Defence contract that Airod won in 2001. However, Keadilan claimed that Quality Ranch had no expertise in the stretch modification of two RMAF C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Ahmad's former secretaries-cum-personal assistants Ajibah Hossein and Firdaus Saripin are now directors of the company.

It was previously claimed that ever since Ahmad took over Airod, the company began to obtain aircraft parts from another of his companies, Fabel (UK) Ltd, rather than from original manufacturers as was previously practised. The significance of this change, it was alleged, was that Airod, and by extension the ministry, would likely be charged higher prices for the same parts.

Public interest

Sivarasa said the issue was of public interest not only because Airod handles Defence Ministry contracts but because the company is indirectly owned by Finance Ministry's bailout vehicle, Khazanah Nasional through its10 percent stake of Aerospace Industries Malaysia (AIM).

Second Finance Minister Jamaluddin Jarjis (right) is also one of the directors of Airod.

Meanwhile, Sivarasa said Bukit Aman public relations officer Insp Jasman Junaidi told him that the police will respond to his Oct 1 letter , which called on them to reveal the progress of their investigations.

"It has been six months since the police began investigations...you cannot take so long to investigate an issue like this. We want at least a response from the police to my queries."

"Insp Jasman said he will communicate the matter with the inspector-general of police and obtain a response," he added.

Other Keadilan leaders present include deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali, vice president Tian Chua, deputy youth chief Faizal Sanusi and youth information chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin.