By Timothy Achariam | The Edge Malaysia
A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer has rejected claims that the agency struck a deal with businessman Datuk Azman Yusoff to secure his testimony against former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Testifying in Muhyiddin’s corruption trial on Monday, MACC’s principal assistant commissioner Mazery Zaini, 42, denied assertions by lead defence counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik that Azman was promised immunity from prosecution.
Azman, a key prosecution witness, previously testified that Muhyiddin made a sudden request for political donations to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) during a private one-on-one meeting after a golf game in July 2020.
Azman, who is also the managing director of KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd and president of the Bumiputera Contractors Association (PKBM), claimed this interaction helped his firm secure a RM62 million road contract under the Jana Ekonomi Pemerkasaan Kontraktor Bumiputera Berwibawa (Jana Wibawa) scheme. He subsequently paid RM4.8 million in “political donations” to Bersatu.
During cross-examination, Hisyam pressed Mazery on why Azman was never prosecuted, despite being investigated alongside Segambut Bersatu deputy chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad over corruption cases linked to businessman Lian Tian Chuan or TC Lian.
Only Adam was brought to court to face 12 charges of corruption and money laundering, which he was acquitted of in August last year after paying a RM4.1 million compound.
Hisyam: Did you not find this strange and puzzling?
Mazery: To me, no.
Hisyam: Do you agree if I say that Azman received special treatment from the MACC?
Mazery: I don’t agree.
Hisyam: I put it to you that Azman received special treatment because of a deal, a handshake between MACC and Azman — come to court, give evidence, we will give you immunity, protection. Do you agree?
Mazery: I don’t agree.
Mazery had earlier stated that Azman was neither remanded nor charged because investigators concluded he had acted directly on Muhyiddin’s request at the golf game in 2020.
Another defence counsel, Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, suggested that Azman fabricated the meeting to lift an MACC freeze on his corporate bank accounts.
Amer Hamzah: Following the investigation against Azman, his companies were affected after MACC froze accounts belonging to him and his companies?
Mazery: Agree.
Amer Hamzah: And for that reason, he was willing to create a narrative that there was a discussion between him and Muhyiddin?
Mazery: I don’t agree.
Four witnesses recalled
Earlier in the day, the High Court allowed the defence’s application to recall four prosecution witnesses in the interest of justice.
The four witnesses are Azman, contractors TC Lian of Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Shahradzi Shamsuddin of Mamfor Sdn Bhd, and MACC assistant enforcement officer Mohd Syawaludin Said.
Muhyiddin, 79, is facing seven charges in this trial — four counts of abuse of power involving RM225.3 million in alleged gratification, and three counts of money laundering involving RM200 million. The prosecution alleged that he received the money from Azman as well as three companies — including Nepturis and Mamfor — allegedly for the benefit of Bersatu.
The trial before High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin resumes on Tuesday.
Edited By Tan Choe Choe
