THE High Court in Shah Alam today was told that former home minister Hishammuddin Hussein approved Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd’s (UKSB) application for a one-stop visa application management system centre in China in for a concession period of seven years.

Former assistant secretary in the Immigration Affairs Division of the Home Ministry Djuliana Jamaludin said Hishammuddin granted the approval on October 1, 2011.

“I was instructed by my division to prepare a consideration paper to obtain the approval of Hishammuddin, regarding UKSB’s application to implement the centre in the Republic of China using the private finance initiative (PFI) model for a concession period of seven years.

“The paper dated September 28, 2011, recommended several actions to be taken by the government,” she said in her testimony in the trial of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for corruption in connection with the foreign visa system, today.

Djuliana said UKSB submitted the proposal offering the visa facilitation service in China to the ministry in 2010.

“UKSB submitted the proposal through a letter to Hishammuddin dated March 4, 2010, which among others, stated that the visa facilitation service could assist the Malaysian embassy in China to manage visa applications in a comprehensive and safe manner without jeopardising any approval process.

“In the letter, UKSB also said that the service would not involve any cost to the Malaysian Government as all service infrastructure will be fully prepared by the company,” she said.

The prosecution’s 11th witness said Hishammuddin also minuted down the top part of the letter with words that read: “Datuk Seri KSU/ Datuk Alias sila teliti seperti yang dilakukan untuk India – yang ini untuk China” (Datuk Seri KSU/Datuk Alias please scrutinise this as done for India – this one for China).

“Following the minister’s minutes, the proposal was scrutinised by the Immigration Department before being submitted to the Home Ministry for further action,” he said.

Prior to this, the prosecution’s third witness Siti Jalilah Abd Manap, who is former deputy secretary of the Immigration Affairs Division told the court that Zahid had extended UKSB’s contract for the project even though the existing contract still had three years left to run.

Zahid had served as home minister between 2013 and 2018.

Zahid, 68, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes worth S$13.6 million (RM42.9 million) from UKSB to extend the company’s contract, as well as maintaining the agreement to supply the system to the ministry.

He is charged with committing the offences at Seri Satria, Presint 16, Putrajaya, and at Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and March 2018.

For another seven charges, Zahid is charged as home minister for accepting S$1.15 million, RM3 million €15,000 (RM75,700) and US$15,000 (RM62,100) in cash from the same company which he knew had a connection with his function as then home minister.

The hearing before Judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues tomorrow. – Bernama, May 10, 2022.