KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — A Bumiputera businessman who secured a RM62 million government project under the Jana Wibawa programme told the High Court today that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had in 2020 said contractors could donate directly to his political party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).
Datuk Seri Azman Yusoff, 54, president of the Bumiputera Contractors Association of Malaysia (PKBM) and managing director of Bumiputera-owned KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd, was testifying as the 27th prosecution witness in Muhyiddin’s power abuse and money laundering trial.
Having known Muhyiddin since 2016, when he was deputy prime minister, Azman said he had in July 2020 joined the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Charity Golf (TSMCG) tournament at the Tropicana Golf Club when the politician was prime minister and president of PPBM, which is also called Bersatu.
After the tournament, Azman said he had met Muhyiddin alone at 3pm in a room at the golf club to ask about opportunities for government projects for PKBM members, and that he had never heard about the Jana Wibawa programme before the then-PM told him about it in that meeting.
“Also in that meeting, Tan Sri Muhyiddin said spontaneously to me, if there are any PKBM members or contractors who wish to donate, can donate directly to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and not to any individuals in PPBM,” Azman said.
Azman said that was why he had asked contractors whom he had met and who wished to apply for Jana Wibawa projects to donate directly to Bersatu.
Recalling the conversation in which he had asked about Jana Wibawa projects via direct negotiation, Azman said he believed he had to comply with Muhyiddin’s donation request.
“I considered that notification as a sentence that means that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin hopes there would be donations from companies which get projects under Jana Wibawa to PPBM as he had previously mentioned donations during that conversation.
“So I as a businessman who wished to request for support and help from him considered that notification as having to be complied with,” he said to explain why he eventually donated RM4.8 million to Bersatu.
After being told by Muhyiddin to get further information from his deputy chief private secretary Asmar Asmadi Abdullah Sani, Azman said he had met the aide several days later in Parliament and was shown a list of around 10 approved government projects under Jana Wibawa.
Jana Wibawa was meant to help Bumiputera contractors with Grade G7 status through appointments as government contractors through direct negotiations.
Azman said he had asked how to apply for these projects, and that Asmar Asmadi had said application letters to Muhyiddin, together with company profiles, could be sent to him.
Azman said he had signed KCJ’s September 21, 2020 letter addressed to Muhyiddin and handed it to Asmar Asmadi at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
In the letter, KCJ asked for Muhyiddin’s support in its application to be appointed via direct negotiation as the contractor for a Jana Wibawa project to build a new road from Felda Bukit Jalur to Gemas, Negeri Sembilan, with the company stating it was a fully owned Bumiputera contractor with Grade G7 status.
The Public Works Department (PWD), in a March 23, 2021 letter, informed KCJ that the government had decided to procure the project via direct negotiation with the company, and in a May 27, 2021 letter asked the company to provide its tender documents for the project.
After providing its tender and offer price, KCJ Engineering was awarded the RM62 million project on July 30, 2021.
After being awarded the project, Azman said he had met and informed Bersatu treasurer Datuk Mohamed Salleh Bajuri that his company planned to donate around five per cent of the RM62 million project to Bersatu.
Ultimately, Azman and his company KCJ Engineering donated RM4.8 million, or around seven to eight per cent of the RM62 million project, as he knew from experience that the profits from building government roads could be around 15 to 20 per cent.
To donate to Bersatu, Azman said he had borrowed RM4 million from his company KCJ Engineering, which he said would be repaid by the company’s year-end dividend payments to him as managing director.
Using the borrowed RM4 million, Azman confirmed he had signed two CIMB cheques on September 7, 2021 for RM2 million and RM1 million, and two November 1, 2022 CIMB cheques for RM500,000 each, and hand-delivered them to Salleh.
Azman said he had delivered KCJ Engineering’s four Maybank Islamic cheques dated September 1, 2022, totalling RM800,000, to Salleh.
Azman said he did not receive any receipt from Bersatu for the RM4.8 million donation.
Previously, bank documents in this trial had shown that the RM4 million from Azman and RM800,000 from KCJ had entered Bersatu’s CIMB account.
Azman said he had paid the RM4.8 million in advance although his company had yet to receive any payments from the government for the project, as he knew the payments would come later since his company had been awarded the project and he recalled Muhyiddin’s July 2020 remarks.
Acknowledging that he did have the choice not to donate to Bersatu, Azman said he had still donated because, as a businessman, he had to comply with Muhyiddin’s July 2020 request.
Although Muhyiddin was no longer prime minister at that time, Azman said he and KCJ had still paid RM4.8 million to Bersatu in 2021 and 2022 “because I as a businessman wished to ‘membalas budi’ (repay the deeds)” of Muhyiddin’s help in getting the project through direct negotiation, and also because he remembered Muhyiddin’s July 2020 remarks.
Azman said he and KCJ would not have donated RM4.8 million to Bersatu if Muhyiddin did not “spontaneously” tell him that any contractors who wished to donate could donate directly to Bersatu.
“If Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not help me to get this project through direct negotiation, I would not donate RM4.8 million to PPBM,” he said.
Azman said he believed his company would not have secured the project through direct negotiation if its application letter had not been supported by Muhyiddin and processed by the PMO, adding that Muhyiddin’s support was an advantage as his company did not have to compete with other companies via a tender.
Azman, who was Umno Lembah Pantai division committee member from 2013 to 2018, said he and his company had never donated to other political parties besides PPBM.
Referring to this project, which his company was awarded through direct negotiation, Azman said: “I did not make any donations to any other political parties as I am only ‘terhutang budi’ (indebted) to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who has helped me and KCJ Engineering.”
With 25 years of experience in handling government projects in the construction industry, Azman said he believed that a prime minister can help influence the actions and decisions of any ministers in the Malaysian government, as the PM is head of government and has the power to appoint and fire any ministers.
As for a separate Jana Wibawa project to build a road from Kampung Gong Nangka to Bukit Khor, Marang, Terengganu, worth RM29.8 million, Azman said he did not donate to Bersatu as his company had won the project while competing with other unknown companies through a pre-qualification tender and without getting Muhyiddin’s help.
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 Yusoff, KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd, 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.