KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — There were no elements of corruption in former Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah receiving RM800,000 in commission between 2008 and 2013 for property brokerage, a witness told the Sessions Court today.

Mohd Firdaus Ahmad Sabry, an investigation officer from the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) denied that the amount Ku received was linked to any elements of corruption, and that the latter also made RM30,000 commission from selling two properties in Johor.

“Would you agree with me if I say there are no elements of corruption in my client (Ku) receiving the monies as commission when he acted as a broker in selling properties in the said period?” Ku’s lawyer Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent asked Mohd Firdaus.

“Yes...no corruption,” the MACC officer said in response.

He also agreed that Ku had cooperated well during MACC investigations and had given sufficient information to help facilitate the anti-corruption agency’s probes.

Geethan, meanwhile, reiterated that the form used by MACC for the declaration of assets was confusing and difficult for a layman to understand.

“The form did not have a column to state commissions made and the form is confusing overall, am I correct?” asked Geethan, to which, Mohd Firdaus agreed.

Geethan then said that if Ku had wanted to cheat in his declaration, the latter would not have told the investigation officer about commissions made from property brokerage when the MACC recorded the latter’s statement in 2013.

Earlier, Mohd Firdaus told the court Bank Negara Malaysia had alerted the MACC when Ku had paid more than RM50,000 to purchase insurance policies.

“It was after that when the MACC started the probe on Datuk Ku,” he said.

When Deputy Public Prosecutor Budiman Lufti Mohamed Budiman asked how the MACC concluded Ku did nothing wrong, Mohd Firdaus said the probe was limited to possible corruption.

“However, the failure to comply with Notice under Section 49 (1) (of the Anti Money-Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001) is outside my jurisdiction,” he said.

Judge Sohaini Alias set May 30 for trial to continue.

The former KL CID chief was initially charged under Section 49(3) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 for failing to declare his acceptance of a “commission” amounting to RM961,500 in a sworn statement dated January 8, 2014.

However his charge was recently amended to Section 49 (1) of the same act for “failure to abide by the Attorney-General’s terms of the notice.