KUALA LUMPUR: The RM2 million ‘political donation’ for Umno wired into the bank account of a company owned by Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor from a property developer was never moved to the political party, the High Court here heard today.
Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim, who is the lead prosecutor in the former Federal Territories Minister’s bribery trial, said the money trail showed that the amount had gone into Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, but no payment was made out to Umno.
“The money trail stopped there (in Tadmansori Holdings’ bank account). The money transferred to the company never went to Umno and there was nothing to show that it was meant for the party,” Julia said in her submissions at the end of the prosecution’s case.
She said the prosecution needs to prove the mens rea (knowledge) element of the alleged criminal act and that this had been established during the trial.
Julia said a key witness, property developer Tan Sri Chai King Kong who was implicated as the bribe giver, had testified that he sent an application letter to develop the Federal Territories Affordable Housing Project (Rumawip) ‘personally’ to Tengku Adnan.
“The element that needed to be proven by the prosecution is that the accused had knowledge as the Federal Territories Minister (at that time, who) had official duties with Rumawip,” she said.
Earlier, counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan who represented Tengku Adnan submitted that the RM2 million cheque his client received was a political donation from a friend he knew for more than 30 years.
He said the defence has already created a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case that the RM2 million was a political donation and not for the benefit of the accused himself.
“If the accused had the intention to commit an offence, he would not be so stupid as to have the money banked into Tadmansori Holdings. This particular charge (receiving the money was) not for himself,” he said.
It was established during the trial that the RM2 million cheque, dated June 14, 2016, was issued to Tengku Adnan, who is also known as ‘Ku Nan’.
The cheque was issued by Chai, who is the managing director of property developer Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd.
Chai had previously testified that the RM2 million was a political donation from him to Umno for the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections.
However, Muhammad Saad Bordani, who is the investigating officer in the case and the 23rd witness, testified that he found that the money was never used for Umno or the by-elections.
After hearing submissions from both parties, judge Mohamad Zaini Mazlan fixed Oct 14 to decide whether Tengku Adnan should enter his defence.
The prosecution had called a total of 23 witnesses during the trial, which started on July 2.
Tengku Adnan, 68, is facing a charge of accepting RM2 million from Chai via a cheque belonging to Aset Kayamas, which was deposited into a bank account belonging to Tadmansori Holdings, a company in which the accused held interest.
He is alleged to have committed the offence in his capacity as a public servant, which is the Federal Territories Minister at the time, at CIMB Bank Bhd, Pusat Bandar Damansara branch, level 1, Lot A4, Block A, Pusat Bandar Damansara, on June 14, 2016.