KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd’s RM800,000 donation in 2022 to political party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia is related to a government project it had won under the Jana Wibawa programme, the High Court heard today.

KCJ’s finance manager Zuriedah Deres@Musa said this while testifying as the 19th prosecution witness in former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s power abuse and money laundering trial in relation to Jana Wibawa.

Today, Zuriedah said KCJ’s managing director Datuk Azman Yusoff had on September 1, 2022 instructed her to prepare the company’s cheques to donate RM800,000 to Bersatu.

“From what I recall, Datuk Azman told me that this donation is related to the Jana Wibawa project that has been awarded to KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd,” she said, adding however that she was not given further information about the project.

Zuriedah later said that she did not know at that time what Jana Wibawa is.

But since Azman is the company’s managing director, Zuriedah said she must carry out all his instructions as his employee.

Later, when asked by Muhyiddin’s lawyer Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad if she would carry out Azman’s instructions even if it is wrong, Zuriedah said she as an employee can only give her advice in such situations. 

However she confirmed she had never advised Azman regarding the company’s various donations through cheques, as she knows it is not wrong.

Based on previous testimonies from other prosecution witnesses in this trial, Muhyiddin had in a November 13, 2020 letter proposed the appointment of 54 contractors — including KCJ — for 54 projects under Jana Wibawa through direct negotiations.

KCJ on July 30, 2021 won a RM62 million road project under Jana Wibawa, and had received more than RM24.3 million from March 2022 to February 2023 from the government as payment for progress on the project.

First-time donation to Bersatu using cheques; no other cheque donations to other political parties

Zuriedah, who first joined KCJ in 2019, said the company did donate using cheques to schools, mosques and non-governmental organisations.

But September 1, 2022 was the first and only time that Azman had instructed her to make donations to Bersatu via cheque, she said.

“However, only once, which is on September 1, 2022, that I received instructions from Datuk Azman to prepare a donation cheque to a political party which is Bersatu,” she said, confirming that Azman had never ordered her to issue cheques to donate to any other political parties.

She told lead prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin that she was unsure if Azman is a member of any political party.

Quizzed by Amer, she confirmed that KCJ and Azman also made donations in cash, and that these donations were recorded but she was unsure who it was paid to.

Amer: So you cannot deny that Azman and KCJ did donate to other political parties?

Zuriedah: Correct.

Why did KCJ issue four cheques to Bersatu on the same day for RM800,000?

Zuriedah said she had prepared four cheques each worth RM200,000 on September 1, 2022 as the two company directors available in the office on that day — Mohd Zaid Yusoff and Datuk Zulhelmi Mairin @ Kunting — were only authorised to sign cheques worth a maximum RM200,000.

Zuriedah said the two directors had enquired about the four cheques before signing, and that she had explained Azman wished to donate RM800,000 to Bersatu.

Zuriedah said she then gave the four signed Maybank Islamic cheques to Azman, and that she did not deal with anyone from Bersatu.

Previously, bank documents produced in this trial showed that KCJ’s RM800,000 had entered Bersatu’s CIMB account through four cheques deposited on October 12, 2022, and Azman’s four cheques totalling RM4 million had been deposited in the same Bersatu account on September 24, 2021 and November 3, 2022.

Among other things, Zuriedah confirmed to Amer that she did not receive any phone calls or instructions from Muhyiddin.

She agreed there was never any communication between her, KCJ and Muhyiddin.

Confirming that she had not verified with Bersatu’s supreme council regarding KCJ’s donations, Zuriedah further agreed with Amer that she could not verify whether Bersatu or Muhyiddin had ever requested for donations.

Indra Khairil Bahrain, secretary of the Cabinet division in the Prime Minister’s Department, also testified today as the 18th prosecution witness.

In this trial, Muhyiddin is facing seven charges, namely four counts of alleged power abuse to obtain RM225.3 million in bribes for his party Bersatu (from Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Azman, Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd), and three counts of alleged money laundering involving money that Bersatu received from Bukhary Equity.

The trial before High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin resumes tomorrow.