KINIGUIDE | Who's who in UKSB's alleged ledger kickbacks
Editor’s note: This KiniGuide has been updated on July 26 with the latest names revealed during the trial.
KINIGUIDE | Corruption cases in Malaysian courts have not ceased, showing that more allegations are being revealed against our politicians.
Lately, several prominent figures were implicated when witnesses testified during the graft trial of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi involving the foreign visa system (VLN) in the High Court in Shah Alam, Selangor.
The secret ledger of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB), which contained code names and details of alleged payments of kickbacks made by the company to several individuals between 2014 and 2018, was submitted in court as evidence.
Among others, the names of...
Editor’s note: This KiniGuide has been updated on July 26 with the latest names revealed during the trial.
KINIGUIDE | Corruption cases in Malaysian courts have not ceased, showing that more allegations are being revealed against our politicians.
Lately, several prominent figures were implicated when witnesses testified during the graft trial of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi involving the foreign visa system (VLN) in the High Court in Shah Alam, Selangor.
The secret ledger of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB), which contained code names and details of alleged payments of kickbacks made by the company to several individuals between 2014 and 2018, was submitted in court as evidence.
Among others, the names of Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin were revealed.
The testimony has led to leaders from Pakatan Harapan, Umno and Bersatu making statements, and the MACC opening investigation papers.
This instalment of KiniGuide will explain in detail the scandal surrounding this UKSB ledger based on news reports by federal government-owned news agency Bernama.
What emerged in Zahid’s trial?
The UKSB ledger revealed several politicians allegedly receiving payments from the company.
The witnesses who testified included UKSB’s director Fadzil Ahmad (14th witness), former directors Harry Lee (15th witness) and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani (16th witness) and its former administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun (17th witness).
How is UKSB involved?
UKSB is a company at the heart of Zahid's corruption trial involving the visa system.
Established in 2009, UKSB handled Malaysian visas for foreigners and the VLN (Visa Luar Negara or Foreign Visa Service) authorised by the government was previously applicable in China, India, Nepal and Myanmar.
It was revealed in court that Wan Quoris is the largest shareholder, with a 40 percent stake in the company, followed by HRL Capital Sdn Bhd and Seri Optima Sdn Bhd, each holding a 20 percent stake.
In his testimony, Tan said the company sourced funds from Hong Kong to pay Zahid and that he had to ask for the company's business partners there for the funds as the UKSB did not have enough money to cover the payments.
The former administrative manager testified that the money that UKSB used for the monthly and one-time payments was not taken from UKSB’s accounts.
"The funds from Hong Kong would be channelled into Malaysia through money changers in Kuala Lumpur, and then passed on to me in cash. After receiving the cash, I would keep it in the company safe box first, and when the time came for us to make the delivery, I would then take out the required amount and put it in a sealed envelope," Tan told the court.
He also said he had once delivered a luggage bag containing RM3 million to Zahid at his official residence, Seri Satria in Putrajaya.
What about the secret ledger?
The UKSB ledger was recorded by Tan, who was in charge of preparing the cash to be delivered to Zahid from October 2014 to August 2018.
"I prepared a ledger using Microsoft Excel on my personal laptop. I’m not an accountant by training, so the ledger was just a simple record of money in, money out," he said.
Tan added that the main entries in the ledger were the amounts available for each month, the amounts withdrawn and the name or nickname of the intended receiver.
"The individuals named in the ledger included ministers, politicians and government servants. Usually, I would key in the entries daily, but on some busy days, I would write down on a piece of paper first before keying in the details in the ledger later in the day or the next day," he testified.
Tan also said he used the code names because he was worried that the ledger might be exposed to other people.
Who are the politicians and what have they allegedly received?
The politicians mentioned in the UKSB ledger are either still with Umno or have quit the Malay-based party.
Apart from Zahid, others named are Muhyiddin, who is also a former prime minister, Khairy, Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Housing and Local Government Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Warisan president Shafie Apdal and former foreign minister Anifah Aman.
Since then, several other names have been revealed as having received political contributions from UKSB. They are former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan and former MCA ministers Chan Kong Choy and Ong Ka Chuan.
1. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
While Zahid is not named in the UKSB ledger, code names such as “monster”, “young boy”, “yb”, “z”, “zh” and “mon” in the files refer to the Umno president, who was then home minister.
According to witness Wan Quoris, the company paid Zahid from 2014 to 2018 in order to secure a contract from the Home Ministry.
Former director Lee testified that the company paid S$200,000 per month in 2014 and the payment increased to S$520,000 per month sometime in 2017.
2. Muhyiddin Yassin
The “TSM” recorded in the UKSB ledger refers to Muhyiddin, who was appointed as home minister during the Harapan era.
Tan testified that the company had given RM1.3 million to Muhyiddin in cash payments on June 4, July 4 and Aug 23, 2018.
In an immediate response, Muhyiddin disputed the testimony, saying that in July 2018, he had undergone surgery for cancer and had gone on leave for several months.
3. Khairy Jamaluddin
The “KJ”, “Alamak” and “Bukit Damansara” recorded in the UKSB ledger refer to the health minister, the court heard.
Wan Quoris testified that they donated RM50,000 to RM200,000 to Khairy when he was the youth and sports minister.
He said the contributions were channelled through the Rembau division and not given directly to Khairy, also known as KJ, who was then the deputy head of the division.
Meanwhile, Tan also confirmed that Khairy was paid RM3.7 million as recorded in the ledger.
Wan Quoris further testified that Khairy was not involved in the VLN case.
4. Reezal Merican Naina Merican
While it is not known what was Reezal’s code name in the ledger, it was revealed that a forensic report from MACC showed he had received between RM200,000 and RM300,000.
5. Hishammuddin Hussein
Court testimony did not reveal any code name for this minister.
However, according to a former staff of the Immigration Affairs Department, Djuliana Jamaludin, Hishammuddin had granted the approval for UKSB’s application to implement the Visa Application Management System 1 Stop Centre in China for a concession period of seven years.
6. Shafie Apdal
The code name of “MOR” in the UKSB ledger refers to Shafie, who was then a rural and regional development minister.
However, there were no details on the benefit given to the Warisan president.
7. Anifah Aman
The code name “FM” in the ledger refers to Anifah, who was the foreign minister then. His name was mentioned in court without any details given by the witness.
Anifah, who is the president of Parti Cinta Malaysia, denied receiving bribes and said he was prepared to facilitate the probe.
Other code names revealed in court included “bomoh”, “KPU”, “SUB” and “AK”. It was reported that “KPU” refers to the director-general while “SUB” is the division secretary, while “AK” is the initial for Akbar Khan.
8. Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir is alleged to have received RM2.6 million in political donations from UKSB shortly after Pakatan Harapan won the last general election. At the time, he was the Bersatu chairperson.
The funds were purportedly paid through Mahathir’s nephew, Rahmat Abu Bakar, who was code-named “Kedahan”, but Tan testified that he did not personally see the money being handed to Rahmat.
Mahathir has since denied the allegations, saying he did not receive any money and that the accuser should show proof to back his claims.
9. Shahril Hamdan
The codename “S Pat” in the ledger refers to Shahril, who is said to have received a total of RM1.16 million, according to Tan.
Tan said the funds were channelled on a monthly basis to Shahril and that he was given the contributions due to his close relationship with Khairy.
Shahril had described the allegations against him as untrue and said he is ready to cooperate with the authorities on this matter.
10. Chan Kong Choy
Former transport minister Chan was given the code name “Prof” in the ledger.
Tan testified that Chan, who is also a former MCA deputy president, received RM7.8 million from UKSB, though no dates of payment were revealed.
Chan was reported saying he did not receive any such money personally or as political funding.
11. Ong Ka Chuan
Codenamed “OKC” in the ledger, Ong allegedly received RM920,000 from UKSB. No dates were provided in court as to when the payment was made.
Ong, who was the housing and local government minister from 2008 to 2009 and international trade and industry minister from 2015 to 2018, said the accusation against him was baseless.
He also urged the accuser to put forth evidence of the payment and said he would cooperate if there was a MACC investigation into the matter.
What are the charges against Zahid?
Zahid, 69, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million from UKSB as an inducement for himself in his capacity as a civil servant and the then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the One-Stop Centre (OSC) in China and the VLN as well as to maintain the agreement to supply VLN integrated system paraphernalia to the same company by the Home Ministry.
On another seven counts, he is charged as then home minister to have obtained for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company in connection with his official work.
Zahid is charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Presint 16, Putrajaya, and at Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.
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