KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — The founder of Titijaya Land Berhad, Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng, was engaged by the previous government as an intermediary to issue payments to two companies hired to monitor the general sentiments of the Chinese community online, one of it being the ‘Ah Jib Gor’ Facebook page, the High Court heard today.

Najib’s political secretary between 2011 to 2018, Datuk Wong Nai Chee, revealed in court that payments amounting to RM238,914 were made out to two companies by Lim; AD Network and Akademi Kewartawanaan dan Informasi Taima (AKIT), issued by the then Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“He (Lim) is with the grassroots and whenever we need people mobilised, such as at the temples, he organised for them to come, he has direct contact with the grassroots,” Wong explained when asked to justify Lim’s appointment.

“(He was a) somewhat intermediary, where every single sen paid to him, he paid out,” Wong said while taking the stand as the 17th witness on the seventh day of Najib’s RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd trial.

“Ah Jib Gor” was the name of the Facebook page used by Najib in the period leading up to the 14th General Elections, in an attempt to win over the Chinese-speaking community, with hopes to gain their support during the elections.

The term translates to “big brother Jib”, with ‘Gor’ being the Cantonese term for big brother and Najib referred to as ‘Ah Jib’.

Wong, 50, a current MCA member, then explained to Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi that AD Network was engaged as the admins for the ‘Ah Jib Gor’ Facebook page, a Chinese-language account meant for Najib to engage with members of the Chinese community.

“It was the admin for the Ah Jib Gor page.

“The payments were monthly charges, for the admin fees,” Wong explained when asked to elaborate on what the payments were, during proceedings in front of Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

Wong had contested during the 14th General Elections as a candidate for the Alor Gajah Parliamentary seat but lost to current Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof.  

He then detailed how payments made to AKIT were used to maintain another Chinese-language online portal, which Wong said was used to publish objective and supposedly impartial articles on a weekly basis.

“It is very important and we need more objective articles in online and print media, so that not everything will be seen in a negative light, while being able to project the correct government policies,” said Wong when asked on the importance of the weekly bulletin by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Wong said both portals were used as engagement platforms by Najib to gauge the general sentiments and grouses of the Chinese community, who had started losing patience with the then Barisan Nasional government.

“We found out before the election what was seen negatively by the Chinese community, so we wanted a way to disseminate accurate government policy information that was correct.

“It was a way for the government to better understand the community and for them to better understand the government.

RM240,000 paid to manage now defunct malaysiandigest.com

The 16th witness in Najib’s trial, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, 41, today revealed that the then PMO had engaged his services, through his company Vital Spire Sdn Bhd, to run the now-defunct news site.

Onn explained to Muhammad Saifuddin how a cheque for RM240,000 was issued to his company’s name for the upkeep of the website, which was utilised as general news portal without a particular focus.

“It is a news portal covering international and local news, business, politics, entertainment, and sports news on a daily basis.

“Malaysian Digest reports news from the Opposition and the government.

“We wanted to give and provide balanced news for the general public,” he said while disagreeing with Shafee’s notion that the website was used as a political blog.

Onn, however, explained that his company Vital Spire, that was engaged by Najib himself, actually held expertise in leadership and motivational programs, and was not a media outlet.

He added that malaysiandigest.com ceased operations and went offline in July 2018.

Both Lim and Vital Spire were among 15 recipients of cheques totaling RM10.77 million issued under two AmIslamic Bank accounts that were registered under Najib’s name, based on court documents produced in court previously.

The trial continues tomorrow morning.