Former general manager of Sarawak state-owned aviation company Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd Mohamed Asharat Ramzan Ali today furnished evidence to support his allegation that US$250,000 had been paid by the company as commission in a suspicious aircraft procurement.

mohamed asharat 220910 Asharat ( left ) cited a discrepancy in the sales and purchase agreement of a Cessna Citation X, a long-range medium business jet aircraft, which stated the ‘total purchase price’ as US$19,481,595 after a ‘special price discount’ of US$250,000.

However at the end of the same document, the ‘total aircraft price’ appeared as US$19,731,595, which was the original price before discount.

He then supported it with the written legal opinion given by Hornbill Skyways’ legal adviser Polycarp Teo, which stated the ‘sales allowance’ of US$250,000 was still included in the total purchase price.

“Term like ‘sales allowance’ may be deemed as commission as well,” he said during re-examination by his counsel Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad at the Kuala Lumpur Industrial Court today.

“If the discount is integrated back to the price of the aircraft, that shows the discount was never received. The ‘sales allowance’ can be paid at a later date as commission.”

However, his testimony was objected to by Hornbill Skyways’ counsel Prakash Menon, who argued that it was only Asharat’s personal opinion.

“We are not interested in his opinion. Let him keep his opinion to himself,” he said.

Asharat’s attempt to illustrate how the ‘sales allowance’ could be translated into commission was then stopped by the Industrial Court chairperson Ahmad Rosle Mohd Sham, after Prakash objected that his testimony had gone beyond the scope of the examination-in-chief.

Yesterday, Prakash had attempted to establish that Asharat could not explicitly prove there were commissions and irregularies in the aircraft procurement.

Aircraft purchased in 2005 for use of CM

The aircraft, built by US-based Cessna Aircraft Company, was purchased in 2005 as a state asset for the use of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Asharat claimed he was unlawfully dismissed by Hornbill Skyways in 2005 after he had uncovered the irregularities, but Prakash rebutted that the former’s testimony was a series of “wild baseless allegations” intended to sabotage the company after he was sacked.

Hornbill Skyways began as a private company in 1977 to service the vast interior of Sarawak.

It was taken over by the state government through acquisition of shares by Yayasan Sarawak and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) eight years later.

The company hit the headlines several times when three helicopter crashes occurred, in July 2004, September 2004 and July 2005, resulting in the death of 14 people, including some VIPs and a Sarawak state minister.

On the procurement of a Bell 206 helicopter, Asharat provided further explanation on the irregularities alleged by him.

“It is irregular for a purchase to be completed without having a closure document in the finance department.

“It is also irregular that only one company was used for the consideration of this purchase,” he said, referring to Abdul Mutalib Abdullah, the broker of the deal.

Asharat reiterated that the action of Mutalib in putting a scrapped aircraft, which he valued at US$80,000, as collateral against the deposit required by Hornbill Skyways was irregular.

“In fact this aircraft is in pieces in Ipoh,” he added.

He also said a search of trading company revealed that the registered address of Mutalib’s company Aero Mech Trading was a residential house.

His attempt to provide further explanation on his allegation relating to this procurement was also stopped by the court chairperson after an objection from Prakash.

On Prakash’s accusation that he had resorted to racial and religious sentiments by highlighting himself as a “Malaysian bumiputera and fellow Muslim” in his appeal letter to Taib, Asharat said he was merely “seeking compassion and fair justice from another fellow Muslim”.

The court chairperson then set June 8 for both sides to make their submissions.