FORMER Felcra group chief financial officer (CFO) told the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today he had received direct instructions from Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin to expedite the board of directors’ resolution on the agency’s RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Bhd’s unit trusts.

Mohd Azmy Abu Samah, 54, said as an employee, he only followed the instructions given as Bung had approved his appointment as CFO at the agency.

“At that time, I still didn’t understand there was a situation, that there was an office ‘cold war’ at Felcra. I didn’t want to get involved because I was still new. Furthermore, the Felcra chairman (Bung) had approved my appointment as the CFO,” said the 26th prosecution witness during the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Sophian Zakaria at the corruption trial involving Bung and his wife, Zizie Izette Abdul Samad. 

In past proceedings, Azmy told the court that chief investment officer Zulkarnain Md Eusope had advised him on the “cold war” between the old and new teams and there was a possibility that relations between chairman Bung Moktar and chief executive officer (CEO) Ramlee Abu Bakar was not good.

To a question by Sophian on what would happen if he did not follow Bung’s instructions, Azmy replied, “At that time, I did not think about the matter at all.”

Azmy said he also did not asked on why he needed to get direct instructions from Bung.

Touching on Felcra’s investment in Public Mutual Bhd’s unit trusts, Azmy said he had been advised not to report it as the investment proposal came from Bung.

Azmy, in his testimony earlier, told the court that the Finance Ministry had agreed to approve Felcra’s RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Bhd’s unit trusts after examining three investment proposal papers submitted by Bung.

When asked why he did not report on the development of the investment to former CEO Ramlee, Azmy said, “Before the investment, it was not reported but after the investment was made, the matter was bought to the top management council meeting.

In his reply to a question about his relationship with Bung’s wife Zizie, Azmy explained that he did not have either a casual or professional relation because he had only met the actress twice and they had never talked.

According to Azmy, he also did not know about Zizie’s involvement in the investment and had never discussed it with the actress.

Proceedings before judge Rozina Ayob continues on Friday.

On May 3, 2019, Bung, 64, pleaded not guilty to two charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM2.2 million and RM262,500 as an inducement to obtain Felcra’s approval to invest RM150 million in Public Mutual unit trusts.

Bung, who was the non-executive chairman of Felcra at the time, was accused of accepting bribes from Public Mutual Bhd’s investment agent Madhi Abdul Hamid through Zizie at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.

He also claimed trial to accepting a RM335,500 cash bribe from Norhaili under Zizie’s name for similar reasons, at the same place on June 19, 2015.

Zizie, 44, pleaded not guilty to three charges of abetting her husband in the matter at the same place, date and time. – Bernama, April 6, 2022.