KUALA LUMPUR: Felcra Bhd former non-executive chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin had informed the board of directors that the then Finance Minister had recommended a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual unit trust products in 2015.
This was revealed by Felcra board member Dr Habibah Suleiman at the Sessions Court today.
Habibah, 73, said she did not know that the amount requested was RM150 million as the amount approved by the board was RM50 million.
“The board had asked him (Bung Moktar) about the change of the investment amount and he told the board that he had met the Finance Minister and brought along Felcra’s application letter to obtain approval,” she said.
Bung Moktar, 60, is on a joint trial with his celebrity wife Datin Seri Zizie Izzete A Samad, 41, involving RM2.8 million related to an investment made by Felcra in 2015.
Habibah said she assumed that Bung Moktar was the one who had changed the investment amount from RM50 million to RM150 million after the recommendation was made to him.
“He (Bung Moktar) was the one who went to see the Finance Minister and he was the one who heard the ‘so-called’ recommendations, so I assumed that,” she said.
The fifth prosecution witness said she only came to know about the change during a board meeting in April, 2015.
Based on a reply letter from the Finance Ministry Inc, Habibah said there was no objection raised in relation to the application for the RM150 million investment.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Roslan Mat Nor why she did not raise any objection to the amount, the witness said it was not her place to do so.
“The decision to increase the investment to RM150 million was made by the Finance Minister, so who am I to object to that?” she said.
Habibah also testified that the discussion during a board meeting regarding the investment was about wanting to increase Felcra’s income.
The trial before judge Rozina Ayob continues tomorrow.
On May 3, last year, the outspoken Kinabatangan Member of Parliament pleaded not guilty to three counts of receiving a total of RM2.8 million in bribes. This was to enable Felcra to make a RM150 million investment in the unit trust products of Public Mutual Bhd.
According to the first charge, Bung Moktar is alleged to have accepted a RM2.2 million bribe in cash from Public Mutual’s investment agent, Madhi Abdul Hamid, through Zizie Izette.
He is also accused of committing the act as an inducement to obtain approval from the Minister of Finance II for Felcra to make a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual unit trust products.
For the second charge, Bung Moktar was accused of taking for himself a bribe of RM262,500 in cash from the same individual, Madhi, through an account of the bank’s investment product Public Islamic Treasures Growth Fund (PITGF), numbered 044797816, and registered under the name of Zizie Izette, for the same purpose.
Bung Moktar is also accused of taking for himself a bribe of RM337,500 from Public Mutual’s investment agent, Norhaili Ahmad Mokhtar, 42, through a Public Ittikal Sequel Fund (PITSEQ) account numbered 044797824, registered under the name of Zizie Izette, for the same purpose.
Meanwhile, actress and producer Zizie Izette pleaded not guilty to three counts of abetting her husband on the same offences.