By Justin Cheng, and Timothy Achariam | The Edge Malaysia
The High Court heard on Wednesday that the government had approved a RM62 million contract for the construction of a new road linking Felda Bukit Jalor to Gemas in Negeri Sembilan, which subsequently saw millions in progress payments and mobilisation funds disbursed to the main contractor, KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd.
Datuk Wan Hasnan Wan Musa, the Negeri Sembilan Public Works Department (PWD) director and prosecution witness in Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s graft trial, testified that the contract spanned a 34-month duration following the issuance of the Letter of Acceptance (SST) on July 30, 2021.
Wan Hasnan, who was appointed as the superintending officer (SO) for the infrastructure development, noted that although the project was funded under the Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB), the specific procurement method was set by the state PWD, as the project implementation was handled by the PWD headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
He confirmed that a total of RM10 million was released as contract advance payment into KCJ Engineering’s Maybank Islamic Bhd account on May 26, 2022.
Disbursement hurdles due to insufficient allocations
Wan Hasnan said that a cumulative total of RM24.3 million in financial disbursements and specific payment certifications was assigned to the contractor. This figure represents the combined sum of the RM10 million contract advance payment and multiple interim claims that were either paid in full, partially disbursed due to federal budget shortages or officially certified as a completed value of work despite administrative voucher delays.
The witness clarified that specifically, this total accounts for five stages that were paid in full, three stages that received reduced payouts due to funding gaps, and a single certified sum of RM3.6 million.
No special treatment or PMO interference, says witness
During cross-examination by defence counsel Chetan Jethwani, Wan Hasnan clarified that the contract administration followed strict conventional protocols under a standard PWD 203A Form, with no special terms or conditions imposed.
Wan Hasnan agreed that the implementation of the RM10 million contract advance payment, the evaluation of progress claims and the subsequent certification of the interim payment certificates were conducted cleanly within the standard operating practices of the PWD and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Chetan: As far as these three things that have happened in this case — the 13 interim certificates, the advance payment and the valuation — had there been any interference by the Prime Minister’s Office during this period?
Wan Hasnan: No.
Chetan: It was all done without any interference by any party?
Wan Hasnan: No, as it was purely based on progress and JKR’s (PWD’s) knowledge about the project.
The witness added that the project was not considered a “projek sakit” (ailing project) and that the extension of time (EOT) granted until the end of July 2026 was necessitated entirely by an expanded scope of work, evaluated strictly against standard contract clauses.
Furthermore, Wan Hasnan confirmed that the contract had never been reviewed or terminated on grounds of corruption or unlawful activities.
These PWD project cash flows tie back to prosecution allegations that KCJ Engineering had channelled an RM800,000 bribe to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in exchange for project security under the federal initiative.
This links back to banking testimony from April, where Maybank operations officer Chang Hui Lin had testified that four RM200,000 cheques totalling RM800,000 had been deposited into Bersatu’s account on Oct 12, 2022, and had been done transparently and fully complied with Clause 24.2 of the party’s constitution governing declared financial contributions.
In this trial, Muhyiddin, whose full name is Mahiaddin Md Yasin, 79, is facing seven charges — four counts of abuse of power involving RM225.3 million in alleged gratification and three counts of money laundering involving RM200 million. He is accused of receiving bribes from businessman Datuk Azman Yusoff, 51, and three companies — including Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd — allegedly for the benefit of his political party, Bersatu.
Deputy public prosecutors Wan Nur Iman Wan Ahmad Afzal and Noralis Mat appeared for the prosecution.
The trial before judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin continues on Thursday.
Edited by Aniza Damis
