Zahid’s approval to extend contract for foreign visa system ‘too early’, former home sec-gen tells court

SHAH ALAM, Dec 22 — Former home minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had ordered ministry officials to expedite the contract extension approval for the government’s Foreign Visa System (VLN) between 2016 and 2017, the High Court heard today.

The ministry’s former secretary-general Tan Sri Alwi Ibrahim testified that he received oral instructions from Ahmad Zahid related to the minutes recorded on October 18, 2016 concerning Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd’s (UKSB) application to extend its VLN contract for six years, from October 2019 to end 2025.

The minutes were attached to a letter from UKSB on October 17, 2016 to Ahmad Zahid who later asked for the matter to be “realised at once”.

“If it is on the VLN contract extension approval process, definitely I am not satisfied with it,” Alwi said in response to questions from deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.

At the material time, UKSB was the appointed operator of the One-Stop Centre (OSC) in China and the VLN as well as responsible for maintaining the agreement to supply VLN integrated system paraphernalia to the Immigration Department under the Home Ministry.

Alwi, the sixth prosecution witness, earlier conceded that he was satisfied with the company’s performance.

However, he said the contract extension was given “too early” — roughly three years before it was to expire.

He pointed out that the original agreement stipulated that an extension may be applied no less than six months before its expiry.

Another former Home Ministry official, Datuk Suriani Ahmad who was at that time deputy to Alwi and in charge of policy and enforcement, previously testified in court that Ahmad Zahid’s conduct was a hindrance to staff conducting an evaluation of the appointed contractor. 

Alwi was the secretary-general of the Home Ministry between 2016 and 2019.

He told the court today that he had to carry out Ahmad Zahid’s instruction on the minutes he received, even though it was practically seen as unsuitable considering the original end of the contract was three years away.

“Nonetheless, I abided by the Home Minister’s instruction through the minutes he issued to extend the UKSB company’s contract for the implementation of this VLN system even though in practice it does not seem appropriate to extend the contract because the contract expiration period is still far away,” he said in his testimony.

Alwi affirmed that UKSB had written several letters to Ahmad Zahid seeking a six-year contract extension on the VLN, which was recorded in the minutes issued by the latter between 2016 and 2017.

However, the trial cut short today. At about 11.30am, defence lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal asked the court for an early adjournment citing rising waters in the vicinity.

Ahmad Zaidi said he was made to understand that several areas in Bukit Jelutong were inundated following a downpour earlier this morning. 

He expressed concern that everyone may be trapped in court if the area were to become flooded again.

Large swathes of Selangor were underwater earlier this week following torrential rains over the weekend that saw as much as a month’s worth of rain fall in the span of two nights.

Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa agreed to adjourn the trial today and schedule proceedings to resume tomorrow at 9am.

The prosecution did not object.

In this VLN case, Ahmad Zahid pleaded not guilty to 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from UKSB as an inducement for himself in his capacity as a civil servant then as home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of OSC in China and the VLN.

He allegedly committed the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya and in Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.

The Bagan Datuk MP also pleaded not guilty to 33 alternative charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code as home minister for receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million in relation to the VLN system between 2014 and 2017.

For another seven charges, Ahmad Zahid was charged as home minister for accepting S$1,150,000, RM3,000,000, €15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company which he knew had a connection with his function as then home minister.

He was charged with committing the offences at a house in Country Heights, between June 2015 and October 2017, under Section 165 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail term of two years, or a fine, or both if found guilty.