Former Felcra chief financial officer (CFO) Azmy Abu Samah said he was told that then CEO, Ramlee Abu Bakar, would not approve the proposal as it was deemed to come from Bung, the Felcra chairman.
The 26th prosecution witness said the existence of the “two camps” was narrated to him by then chief investment officer Dzulkaranain Md Eusope, who had been at Felcra much earlier than him.
“This was the prevailing culture as told to me by Dzulkaranain when I joined Felcra,” he said when examined by deputy public prosecutor Sophian Zakaria.
Azmy, a chartered management accountant, previously worked for a government-linked company and joined Felcra in August 2014.
He said he was introduced to Dzulkaranain who told him that Felcra needed a CFO to supervise and provide advice on the finance of the company.
Azmy said he had told Dzulkaranain that Ramlee should be informed about the proposed investment because as CEO, he was head of Felcra’s management.
Asked by Sophian why he listened to Dzulkaranain’s advice, the witness said he was informed that past investment proposals were put in “cold storage ” when it was submitted to Ramlee.
“It could be due to the ‘not so attractive’ relationship between the CEO (Ramlee) and the chairman (Bung),” he said.
Earlier, Azmy told the court that Bung asked him to prepare a proposal on the mutual trust investment to be presented before the Felcra board in late 2014.
He said the proposal was done by Felcra’s head of finance Azriman Ridouan and senior financial manager Mariah Husain.
“After doing a cost analysis and studying the financial position of Felcra, we suggested that RM50 million could be allocated for the investment though the company had an excess of RM300 million from its pension fund (for large investments),” he said.
Bung, 64, who is also the Sabah deputy chief minister, is facing two charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM2.2 million and RM262,500 as an inducement to obtain Felcra’s approval to invest in the unit trust.
The non-executive chairman of Felcra at the time, he is accused of accepting bribes through Zizie at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch here between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.
He also pleaded not guilty to accepting RM335,500 in cash as bribe from unit trust consultant Norhaili Ahmad Mokhtar, through Zizie for the same reason and 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.
The hearing before trial judge Rozina Ayob continues tomorrow.