Prosecution witness Wang Dequn, 58, was speaking at the trial over a citizenship racket allegedly run by a National Registration Department (JPN) assistant director and five middlemen.
Wang said the accused and alleged middleman, Lai Chin Wah, had offered to get the driving licence done for him.
He said Lai, who had a “Datuk” title, had arranged for him to take a driving exam which he passed. He was then presented with a licence.
He also told the court that he had asked Lai why his Malaysian passport bore the name “Ewe Chor Beng”.
He said Lai told him it was customary and “standard practice” to have a different name in Malaysian passports.
To check if his new passport worked, he said, Lai took him to the Thai border. He managed to return to Malaysia after a night’s stay there.
He said a Thai man named Liu Ge who referred him to Lai had asked him to pay Lai RM100,000.
“I paid US$17,000 to US$18,000 (about RM70,000) and the rest in ringgit,” he said.
Wang said he had also wanted to engage a lawyer to check if the passport and other documents were legitimate, but had put off doing so as he had a tight schedule.
He said this when examined by deputy public prosecutor and Penang state prosecution director Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim.
Defence lawyers later asked him about his alternate name and the use of his Vanuatuan and China passports.
Lawyer Mohd Hisham Nazir asked Wang if he had used the Vanuatuan passport to travel to the US and the Chinese passport under the name “Wang Jinlai” to travel to European countries.
However, Wang said he had only used his Vanuatuan passport to travel overseas this year, and his Chinese passport in 2018. He said he only used his Malaysian passport once, to travel to Thailand.
When asked by Hisham if he had obtained a Malaysian passport because he was on the run from the authorities over alleged crimes in China, Wang said no.
Hisham then asked if Wang had not been caught by China because one of his companies was the biggest defence contractor in China. Wang denied this as well.
Justice Akhtar Tahir ordered Wang’s Chinese passport to be returned to him, to allow his deportation to China on Nov 13.
Wang is currently serving a three-month jail sentence at the Jawi prison. He was caught with his Malaysian passport at the Penang International Airport in August.
The trial will continue from April 6 to 10.
Wang was testifying in the trial of JPN assistant director Mohd Faizul Arifin and five others charged with 32 counts of falsifying birth certificates and identity cards as part of a syndicate selling citizenship to China nationals.
Faizul and the five others were charged under Section 25 (1)(i) of the National Registration Regulations 1990, which provides for a jail term of not more than three years, a fine of not more than RM20,000, or both upon conviction.
Faizul is alleged to have issued Wang, Yang Xiaohong, Pheh Jin Leong, Tan Xiu Xiu and Lim Hock Eng with MyKads in September and December last year and in May this year.
Yap Cheng Wah, 43; Loh Chan Cheong, 34; and Chien Guan Chai, 36 are also in the dock.
The six were also charged under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 for allegedly selling birth certificates and identity cards and fraudulently issuing such documents to several foreigners.
Lai also faces three charges under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 for selling a fake birth certificate, MyKad and passport to Wang.
Lai was represented by Sivahnanthan Ragava while Chien and Faizal were represented by Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Loh was represented by Harpal Singh, Yap was represented by Lee Kean Wooi and Faizul was represented by Hisham.