THE Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today that the RM2 million received by Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was a political donation.

Tadmonsori Holdings Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Mohd Hasbi Jaafar said this was relayed to him by Tengku Adnan in a phone conversation.

“It is true. Tengku Adnan told me so,” said the prosecution witness when questioned by defence counsel Tan Hock Chuan.

Hasbi added that he was shown a picture of the cheque in a WhatsApp message sent to him by Tengku Adnan.

“The cheque was issued by Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd but there was no business relationship with Tadmonsori,” he said.

Tan continued by asking Hasbi if he was aware of two by-elections – for the Kuala Kangsar and Sg Besar parliamentary seats – that took place in June 2016.

Hasbi replied he knew the by-elections happened on June 18, four days after the RM2 million cheque from Aset Kayamas was debited into Tadmonsori’s bank account.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim asked Hasbi if he was questioned by anti-graft investigators about the money being a political donation for the two parliamentary by-elections.

Hasbi told the court that he was never asked by the investigating officer if the money was a political donation.

Yesterday, Tengku Adnan’s driver Nik Yahaya Nik Mustapha told the court that he was instructed to cash in a RM2 million cheque for Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd belonging to Tengku Adnan.

However, he said, he did not know what the purpose of the payment was.

“I received the cheque date June 14, 2016, from Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd for RM2 million from Tengku Adnan on that day in his office.

“I was instructed to deposit the cheque to Tadmansori Holdings,” said Nik Yahaya.

Before Nik Yahaya, a bank officer from CIMB also confirmed that a company linked to the Putrajaya MP had received a RM2 million cheque.

The banker, Khairolrony Kamarudin, said the cheque was from developer Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd.

Another witness, Muhammad Akmaludin Abdullah from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, testified that Tadmansori was founded on August 25, 1987, as an investment company and that Tengku Adnan was the largest shareholder.

In the charge sheet against Tengku Adnan, the RM2 million was described to have been given through a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque belonging to Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd that was deposited into the CIMB Bank account of Tadmansori Holdings.

Tengku Adnan allegedly committed the offence at CIMB Bank Bhd, Pusat Bandar Damansara Branch on June 14, 2016, under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to two years or fine or both, on conviction.

The former minister also faces another charge of accepting a bribe of RM1 million from businessman Tan Eng Boon to raise the plot ratio for a project at Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur in 2013.

This hearing of this case before justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will begin on September 3. – July 3, 2019.