KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — The Sessions Court here today was told that the contract for the "Central Spine Road: Sertik to East Coast Highway Intersection” project worth RM232 million was awarded to Nepturis Sdn Bhd.

Deputy secretary of the Development and Privatisation Division, Ministry of Public Works (KKR), Mohamed Fauzi Mohamad Hanafiah, 46, stated that in May 2022, a letter from the Ministry of Finance to the secretary-general of KKR indicated that the then Minister of Finance (Datuk Tengku Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz) had approved the project with an estimated cost of RM232 million for a duration of 36 months.

"This approval is subject to conditions including that allocations have been approved and are sufficient for the project; all financial regulations and procedures in force must be fully complied with; the contract price of RM232 million must be adjusted based on the agreement of the parties (involved) and the Public Works Department (JKR) must make sure the Nepturis company is free of any legal action before the Lettor of Acceptance (LOA) is signed.

"I confirm that the letter dated May 13, 2022, was signed by Datin Rosni Mohd Yusoff from the Government Procurement Division, Ministry of Finance,” he said.

The sixth prosecution witness said this when reading out his witness statement in the corruption and money laundering trial involving Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

Regarding projects under the Jana Wibawa programme, Mohamed Fauzi said KKR did not specify any projects to be included in the said programme.

"I am not sure how a project is determined to be included in the Jana Wibawa programme. I confirm that the Central Spine Road Project: Sertik to the East Coast Highway Intersection was included in the Jana Wibawa programme based on information from the Ministry of Finance to JKR, and communicated to KKR,” he said.

The Programme for the Empowerment of Competent Bumiputera Contractors (Jana Wibawa) was introduced during the administration of then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin with the objective of speeding up project implementation and improving the national economy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In response to an additional question from Deputy Public Prosecutor Rasyidah Murni Adzmi, the witness said the highway project under KKR’s supervision would be fully completed by 2027.

Meanwhile, to a question from lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, who represents Saiful, the witness said all projects that exceed RM100 million must be approved by the Ministry of Finance.

Mohamed Fauzi agreed with the lawyer that in this case, the Central Spine Road project exceeded RM100 million, so the decision to select and appoint a contractor for the project was made by the Ministry of Finance.

Wan Saiful, 47, was charged with soliciting bribes from one Lian Tan Chuan, as an inducement to help Nepturis Sdn Bhd obtain the Central Spine Road Project: Sertik to the East Coast Highway Intersection from the Malaysian Government through pre-qualification, valued at RM232 million.

He is also alleged to have received RM6,962,694.54 in cash through the CIMB Bank Berhad account belonging to his company WSA Advisory Group Sdn Bhd from the Maybank Islamic Berhad account belonging to Nepturis Sdn Bhd as payment for assisting the company in obtaining the LOA for the project.

The Tasek Gelugor MP was alleged to have committed both offences at the Royal Lake Club, Taman Tasik Perdana here in April 2022 and at CIMB Bank Berhad Bukit Tunku Branch between July 8 and September 30, 2022.

Wan Saiful is also facing 18 charges of money laundering involving RM5.59 million by transferring and using the proceeds of illegal activities, including paying for the purchase of a Ford Ranger, payments to the National Sports Council of Malaysia, and transferring the funds to several company accounts including those belonging to Sinar Karangkraf Sdn Bhd.

All the offences were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Berhad’s Bukit Tunku Branch here between August 12 and November 13, 2022, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

The hearing before Judge Rozina Ayob continues on May 20. — Bernama

* An earlier version of this article contained an error by Bernama which has since been rectified.