A CONTRACTOR told the High Court today that he received RM63,800 from Shahrir Ab Samad in connection with roof rehabilitation work for three blocks of the Puri Langkasuka project in Larkin, Johor.

Mustapha Ali, 63, said the money was received through a cheque from a trader, Syed Mohsin Syed Sagaf, at the end of March 2014 once work had been completed.

“I deposited the cheque into a Public Islamic Bank account in the name of Zam Engineering & Construction that belonged to my wife Hamidah Basir and my friend’s daughter Nur Faizah Zulkifli. 

“I have returned the RM63,800 deposited to Syed Mohsin via three Public Islamic Bank cheques,” he said.

Mustapha said this when reading his witness statement in the trial of the former Felda chairman, who is facing charges of failing to declare RM1 million received from former prime minister Najib Tun Razak to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The 13th prosecution witness said he had submitted a quotation amounting to RM63,800 to Shahrir on Syed Mohsin’s instructions and that the claim had been made in the name of Zam Engineering & Construction.

“Syed Mohsin asked me to prepare a quotation for Tan Sri Shahrir as he had used his money as an advance to buy items to repair the roof and pay my wages and also my workers’, but he had yet to claim the expenses from Tan Sri Shahrir,” he said. 

Besides this, Mustapha said sometime in October 2013, he and Syed Mohsin had been discussing their respective careers when Syed Mohsin mentioned the Puri Langkasuka project that he was involved in upon Shahrir’s instructions. 

“As I was without a project at the time, I asked Syed Mohsin if he needed workers to carry out the repairs,” said Mustapha, who has known Syed Mohsin for about 30 years.

Syed Mohsin then agreed to the idea, with payments to be made by Shahrir himself, Mustapha testified. 

Meanwhile, Mustapha agreed with lawyer Syahrul Syazwan Salehin, who represented Shahrir, that the roof renovation work was done on an abandoned project. 

The witness, however, said he was not sure whether Syed Mohsin had informed him during the meeting that the project was to relocate squatter settlement residents to a more comfortable and better place.

Shahrir, 72, is accused of being involved in money laundering by not reporting the actual income in the income tax form contrary to section 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967, which is not declaring the income received from Najib amounting to RM1 million through a cheque which was banked into his bank account.

He was charged with committing the act at IRB Duta branch, Government Office Complex, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, Kuala Lumpur, on April 25, 2014, in accordance with section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001, which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment or a fine of RM5 million or both, if convicted.

The trial before judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin continues tomorrow. – Bernama, September 6, 2022.