KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — The High Court was told that RM6 million was deposited into an account belonging to Bersatu between February 21, 2022, and November 17, 2022.
Former AmBank (M) Berhad Amcorp Mall Branch assistant manager Nor Paizah Osman, 45, said the funds ranged from RM500,000 to RM1 million, all made via cheques through 10 separate transactions.
Paizah, who is currently serving as an assistant officer at AmBank’s OUG branch, said the account was opened on September 18, 2018, at the Amcorp Mall branch under the name of the Bersatu association or organisation, as an AmBank current account.
“Based on this specimen card, I confirm that there are six authorised signatories listed under the ‘Authorised Signature’ section, namely Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Datuk Mohamed Salleh Bajuri, Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, Muhammad Zulhelmi Zaulkafly, and Ili Syazwani Karmaine.
“According to AmBank’s procedure for opening a current account, only these named individuals are authorised to sign the specimen card. If anyone other than these individuals signs the specimen card, the account opening would be invalid and cannot be processed,” she said.
Paizah was reading out her witness statement on the third day of the trial involving Muhyiddin, who is facing seven charges of abuse of power and money laundering.
Yesterday, CIMB Islamic Bank Menara KL Sentral Branch finance manager Lee Hui Nee told the court that the Bersatu account received RM19.3 million through 28 cheque transactions between August 24, 2021, and November 11, 2022, and that the bank had filed a suspicious transaction report (STR) to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) regarding the inflow of ‘tens of millions’ of ringgit.
Meanwhile, when asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Noralis Mat who the Bersatu president was during the period when RM6 million was deposited between February and November 2022, Nor Paizah replied it was Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
In response to a question by Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, counsel representing Muhyiddin, on whether the witness had ever received any inquiry from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) regarding Bersatu’s financial matters, Paizah said she had never received any.
However, she could not recall whether the bank had received any inquiries from BNM regarding the Bersatu account, while acknowledging that none of the cheque transactions presented any issues.
Meanwhile, Paizah agreed with Amer that all incoming transactions into the Bersatu account were in order, and the witness also agreed with the counsel that none of the six authorised signatories had full control over the account.
In response to a question from DPP Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, the witness agreed that the bank account had no issues or suspicious elements.
Meanwhile, the fourth prosecution witness, former Registrar of Societies (RoS) assistant director Mohamad Amin Idris, 41, said that Bersatu was registered with the RoS on September 8, 2016
Muhyiddin, 78, who was prime minister and Bersatu president at the time of the alleged offences, faces four charges of using his position to obtain RM225.3 million in bribes linked to the Jana Wibawa project.
The bribes were allegedly obtained from three companies: Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd. and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, as well as Datuk Azman Yusoff for the party.
The offences were allegedly committed at the Prime Minister’s Office in Perdana Putra, Putrajaya, between March 1, 2020, and August 20, 2021.
He is charged under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The Pagoh MP also faces three charges of receiving RM200 million in proceeds from unlawful activities from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, which were deposited into Bersatu’s accounts at Ambank and CIMB Bank branches in Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur between February 2021 and July 2022.
The charges were framed under Section 4(1)(b) read together with Section 87(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act.
If convicted, he faces imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the proceeds of unlawful activities or RM5 million, whichever is higher.
The trial before Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin resumes on April 13.
