KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — A woman today told the court that she had signed off on a blank cheque book for her company, and that she had in 2016 authorised the channelling of funds totalling almost RM4.6 million out from her company’s account on the instructions of her moneychanger husband Omar Ali Abdullah to an entity that she did not know.
Kamarunisah Ahmah Shah, 48, was testifying as the 69th prosecution witness in former home minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption and money-laundering trial.
Throughout the trial, Kamarunisah’s moneychanger husband Omar Ali has been repeatedly mentioned by business people testifying in the trial as the reason why they had trustingly signed off blank cheques to hand over to him. The blank cheques had ended up being paid out to law firm Lewis & Co, which was mentioned repeatedly in Zahid’s money-laundering charges.
Today, Kamarunisah’s testimony in court shedded more light on Omar Ali the moneychanger, who she has been married to since 1992 and has four children with.
As the director of her company Ekares Sdn Bhd which was set up in March 2013 together with co-director Abdul Majid Mohd Yusoff to provide oil and gas services, Kamarunisah said she is the sole signatory for cheques issued from the company’s CIMB Islamic account.
As for her husband Omar Ali’s use of her company’s CIMB Islamic bank account, Kamarunisah said that she did not know about funds being deposited into the account as all such deposits were managed by her husband.
“My husband did not tell me from where the money came from,” she said in her witness statement today.
“I only signed a blank cheque book owned by Ekares Sdn Bhd where the name of the recipient and the amount I also did not fill in. I was only told by my husband if there are phone calls from the bank and I only had to verify the payment from the cheques. To whom that Ekares Sdn Bhd make payments to is beyond my control,” she said in her witness statement.
Without knowing where the money entering her company came from or who it was paid out to, Kamarunisah’s company was today verified in court to have paid out 16 cheques totalling RM4,559,036 (or nearly RM4.6 million) in just three days in 2016 to Lewis & Co.
Having verified the use of her company’s 16 cheques to pay out the nearly RM4.6 million to Lewis & Co, Kamarunisah explained that her husband Omar Ali would tell her about the amount that would be paid and the recipient of the company’s cheques before the bank called her to verify the cheque payments.
“I confirm that I did ask my husband whether there were funds in Ekares Sdn Bhd’s account to make payments of such amounts, and my husband told me that he had deposited money received into Ekares Sdn Bhd’s account,” she said.
“I confirm that I do not know why payments were made to Lewis & Co as the payment matters were handled by my husband and I only signed those blank cheques,” she said, confirming that Omar Ali had told her of the payments to Lewis & Co.
“The payments to Lewis & Co were made using money received by my husband from an unknown individual and entered into Ekares Sdn Bhd’s account. I confirm that Ekares Sdn Bhd has no projects and Ekares Sdn Bhd does not have money as much as that to make payments to Lewis & Co. I confirm that Ekares Sdn Bhd has no work relationships at all with Lewis & Co,” she said in the same witness statement.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffrey Ong to explain what she had meant by “unknown individual”, Kamarunisah insisted that she did not know where the money came from.
Even without knowing if Ekares Sdn Bhd’s account actually contained the amounts stated in the cheques, Kamarunisah said she had on all occasions verified her signature when contacted by CIMB and had told the bank that she authorised all such payments.
Asked by Harris, Kamarunisah said she had no doubt about the 16 cheques, saying: “I trust what my husband does.”
All the 16 cheques
Today, Kamarunisah verified all 16 CIMB Islamic cheques to Lewis & Co, including an initial batch of seven cheques all issued from Ekares Sdn Bhd on April 21, 2016 and all paid out on May 23, 2016 (RM500,000, RM350,000, RM250,000, RM150,000, RM350,000, RM250,000, RM338,480).
The 16 cheques also included two cheques both dated June 24, 2016 and both cashed in on July 15, 2016 (RM250,000, RM250,000), while the remaining seven cheques were all dated June 30, 2016 and cashed in on July 14, 2016 (RM350,000, RM250,000, RM150,000, RM350,000, RM250,000, RM150,000, RM370,556).
As for Ekares’ current status, Kamarunisah initially appeared to suggest it was now dormant with no activities or business being carried out, but later said she did not know about its status. She also said she does not know the status of the company’s account. She confirmed that she is not involved in her husband’s moneychanging business which she said had been conducted since they married in 1992.
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Kamarunisah’s ties with Zahid
Kamarunisah confirmed that she knows Zahid, pointing out that they were both from the same hometown in Bagan Datuk, Perak and that families had dealings with each other since they lived in nearby villages.
“One kampung with Datuk Zahid Hamidi,” she explained, noting that Zahid’s family members would buy food such as roti canai from her father who had a business, while her late uncle who was a taxi driver also knew Zahid’s family.
Throughout her testimony today, Kamarunisah appeared flustered, anxious and nervous in turns, at times placing a hand over her mouth in between answering questions from lawyers.
But when asked how close her relationship with Zahid was, Kamarunisah took a very long pause while those present in the courtroom waited on her reply, before eventually saying that they were not that close.
While confirming that her family had known Zahid even before his political career due to dealings such as with her late uncle, Kamarunisah said that she knows Zahid as he is the Bagan Datuk MP and that she had voted for him.
As for how frequent she met with Zahid, Kamarunisah said that she had never met him personally except for greetings during election campaigns, while also confirming that she would visit Zahid’s residence annually for the Hari Raya open house events if invited — except for this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But she said she does not have any dealings with Zahid, while also confirming that her husband Omar Ali would also be present during the visits to Zahid’s residence.
When asked by Harris, Kamarunisah replied that she “don’t know” what relationship her husband Omar Ali had with Zahid or how close the two were, or if Omar Ali had any personal or business dealings with Zahid or had carried out any matters for the latter.
In this trial where Zahid is facing 47 charges, he is accused of having committed money-laundering by having allegedly ordered an individual known as Omar Ali Abdullah to launder RM6,885,300.20 (or more than RM6.885 million) in cash into 30 cheques that were given to law firm Lewis & Co to buy fixed deposits in Maybank between March 29 to July 15, 2016.
The trial before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah is expected to resume tomorrow.
MORE TO COME
