KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan denied today he received any payment from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB), the local company that alleged it gave millions to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for support in securing the Foreign Visa System (VLN) contract.
Shahril was among the latest to be implicated today by UKSB executives testifying against Ahmad Zahid, joining others such as Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former prime ministers Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“I would like to state that this allegation is absolutely untrue,” Shahril, who is also director of economic affairs for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said in a statement published on his official Facebook page this evening.
“In fact, I have no knowledge about this so-called ledger that contains the name ‘S Pat’ nor its content. I would further state that I am ready to give my full cooperation with the authorities in any situation,” he added.
Under questioning from the defence, UKSB administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun told the High Court this morning that Shahril received a total of RM1.16 million for political funding purposes by virtue of being a close ally of Khairy.
Tan earlier affirmed the entries he had made in a ledger he owned for bookkeeping purposes on cash payments made by UKSB to various politicians, government staff and Ahmad Zahid himself when cross-examined by defence lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh.
Tan referred to Shahril as “S Pat” in his ledger, which was shown to the court today.
Shahril was named among three more Barisan Nasional politicians that had allegedly received financial contributions for political funding purposes given by UKSB. The other two were former MCA leaders Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and Tan Sri Ong Ka Chuan.
Ahmad Zahid is facing 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 and the then home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the OSCs in China and the VLN system as well as to maintain the agreement to supply VLN integrated system paraphernalia to the same company by the Home Ministry.
For another seven counts, the current Umno president was charged as home minister to have obtained for himself S$1.15 million, RM3 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 in cash from the same company in connection with his official work.
He is charged with committing all the offences at Seri Satria, Presint 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.
