FORMER Felda chairman Mohd Isa Abdul Samad told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that his former special officer had implicated him in the corruption case for which Isa is on trial because the officer was desperate to get out of a haunted jail cell.

Isa said Muhammad Zahid Md Arip had told him that he had given the investigators Isa’s name because he wished to be freed from the lockup where he said he was being harassed by a ghost.

“I met him (Zahid) when his uncle died in 2018, I greeted him and commented that he looked thin. He said all sorts of things had happened while he was in remand.

“He was detained in the old MACC building, and he said that one of the cells was haunted. Due to fear and his being under duress, he had to implicate me to set himself free,” he said during examination-in-chief by his lawyer Salehuddin Saidin.

Isa’s trial for corruption opened today. The former Negri Sembilan menteri besar is accused to receiving RM3 million in bribes.

Isa said he had asked Zahid to correct his statements to the investigators that linked him to the charges. Isa said Zahid agreed to amend his statements but did not do so.

I asked him (Zahid) to correct (the statements) and he said he would do it but nothing happened. I met him at the MACC office, and again I said, ‘Zahid, correct it before it goes to court because this is a matter concerning my dignity’. He said ‘Wait, I will do it’, but nothing happened and I was brought to court,” he said.

Isa said he had asked Zahid, who is the 16th prosecution witness, to correct his statements as he was not involved in the corruption case.

Meanwhile, Isa said Zahid served as his special political officer from 2011 to 2016, and that Zahid had come recommended by then prime minister Najib Razak.

“I gave him the post (of special political officer) even though I was not interested in him because his track record was not good – he liked to jump (switch sides).

“His temperament is like that, he has to look out for himself. That’s why in politics, he jumps around, wherever there is profit, he will go. This is his character, his style,” said.

Isa said he fired Zahid because the latter supported Pakatan Harapan.

To Salehuddin’s question of whether Zahid had on nine occasions placed bribe money on Isa’s desk in his office on  the 49th floor of the Felda building, Isa replied “That never happened and it was impossible for that to happen”.

Isa said the room was locked and could only be unlocked with a special code known only to the auxiliary policemen and his then secretary Zuraida Ariffin@Shaari.

“I myself could not remember the code. During the times i went to the office, Zuraida would open the door first and get the room ready. During my absence, no one was allowed to enter my room and it was locked all the time except when I was there.

“I was not in the office all the time as I had many affairs to attend to outside (the office). Zuraida would be in the office when I was there as she would be managing my requirements and schedule at the office,” he said.

Isa is charged with nine counts of corruption for receiving bribes amounting to RM3,090,000 from Ikhwan Zaidel, 59, through Zahid, in return for Isa’s help in approving a RM160 million hotel purchase by Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd.

The offences were allegedly committed between July 21, 2014, and December 11, 2015.

Each charge filed under Section 16 (a) (A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. – Bernama, August 17, 2020.

The prosecution in the trial was handled by DPP Afzainizam Abdul Aziz before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.