A  freight forwarding company senior executive alleged to have bribed Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad revealed that he was told  how to “tell the story” ( cerita ) on how the senior customs officer had died.

“Abdul Ghani (Ali) told me, if anybody were to ask, I just have to say Sarbaini fell to his death from a window,” said Wan Zainalabidin Wan Zaki, a senior executive of Schenker Logistics.

He was referring to the investigating officer from the Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), in charge of the “3B” operation, a nationwide operation to detect wrongdoings among customs officers.

NONE Wan Zainal told the inquest into the death of Sarbaini that he was asked to turn up at the KL MACC office by one of its officers on the day Sarbaini was found dead.

He added that the reason he was summoned was that Sarbaini had apparently confessed two days earlier that he had received a bribe from him (Wan Zainal), which statement later the deceased decided to revoke.

“After I arrived, I found out about  Sarbaini’s death from a police officer, and I decided to stay longer to find out which hospital his body had been sent to,” he said.

The 41 year-old witness said an officer, who introduced himself as Abdul Ghani, then showed up and told him that he had seated Sarbaini on a sofa before going off for meal.

Later, it dawned on him that he had left Sarbaini alone and returned to fetch him.

“However, Sarbaini was nowhere to be seen. He then later went into pantry area,” the witness told coroner Aizatul Akmar Maharani.

‘Just tell the story as I tell you’

“Abdul Ghani told me, if anybody were to ask, you just tell the story as I tell you ( Haji, kalau orang tanya haji, haji cerita macam saya cerita ),” he said.

Wan Zainal added that the part he was “taught” to tell others was that “Sarbaini fell to his death from a window” ( Dia mati jatuh tingkap ).

“However at that point, Abdul Ghani was pulled away by a man believed to be his colleague, it happened so fast,” he said.

Wan Zainal, who is the 11th witness in the inquest, also denied he and his company had bribed Sarbaini, nor had the deceased asked for money from them.

“We were good friends, he called me to say he had told MACC I had bribed him. The next day when we had tea together, he said he went blank when questioned by an officer, and could only think of (my name) Zainal and Schenker,” he said.

Counsel for the deceased’s family Awtar Singh, speaking to reporters during the inquest’s recess, said: “Abdul Ghani was transferred to headquarters after Sarbaini ‘s death.”

He also said that two officers were temporarily suspended while three others were transferred away from KL MACC because of the incident.

Replying to Awtar, Wan Zainal also told the court that he had never bribed Ahmad Sarbaini and the customs officer had never asked such gratification from him or his company.

'Bribes strictly prohibited by the company'

Later, in replying to questions from Schenker-appointed lawyer Rosli Dahlan, the witness agreed that the company is a respected international-based company and it has never been its practise to bribe government officials or offer such gratification to them.

“Yes, this is strictly prohibited by the company based on its code of conduct,” Wan Zainal, who was wearing a skullcap, said.

Later, in replying to questions from MACC-hired counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Wan Zainal said Ahmad Sarbaini said a complaint was made by Top Mark on him by someone called Ah Seng, resulting in the graft commission investigating the customs officer.

“Ahmad Sarbaini told me at about 8.50pm (Isyak prayer time) that he felt ‘ buntu ’ (stumped) when questioned repeatedly by the MACC, leading to him mentioning Schenker and Wan Zainal’s name. This resulted in the said investigations on u. But let me affirm that it is never Schenker’s practise to offer bribes or pay bribes to officials,” he said.

The inquest continues on Monday.