Peter Anthony Trial: UMS sent a letter denying support to Asli Jati

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court today was told that Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) had sent a letter to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak denying that it had given support to Asli Jati Engineering Sdn Bhd for the awarding of the maintenance and services work for mechanical and electrical (ME) systems contract at the university.

Najib was the then Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Referring to the letter dated Nov 26, 2014 issued by UMS, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Raja Mohd Shasrizam Raja Nik said the denial was following the action of two UMS officers issuing letters of support to the company owned by Datuk Peter Anthony, who is also former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister.

He said the letter also stated that UMS was taking disciplinary action against former Ulink Property Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Abdullah Mohd Said and former UMS deputy vice-chancellor (Academic and International) Prof Dr Shariff Abd Kadir Shariff Omang because they had issued letters of support without the knowledge of the then vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah.

The letter was tendered by lawyer Munawar Kabir Mohd Zainal Abidin, representing Peter, to the 11th prosecution witness on the seventh day of the trial trial involving Peter who is facing charges of using false documents relating to a system maintenance contract.

On April 8, the ninth prosecution witness, Abdullah, 66, told the court that he felt he had been cheated by the politician over the contract and he was also subjected to disciplinary action and fined by the UMS management.

Abdullah said the objective of the cooperation was for a smart partnership, but what got approved was the renewal of the ME systems’ maintenance and services contract to Asli Jati.

The smart partnership programme was initiated by Peter, one that would involve cooperation between Ulink Property and Asli Jati, in which the company was to construct a building at UMS’ Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme for skills training and short-term courses.

Peter, 50, as the managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd, is charged with forging a letter from the UMS deputy vice chancellor's office dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement in the title of the letter with the intention of using it to deceive the office of the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister at the Perdana Putra Building in Putrajaya between June 13, 2014, and Aug 21, 2014.

He was also charged on the optional charge as the managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd over the use of a false document as genuine, namely a letter from the office of the deputy vice-chancellor of UMS dated June 9, 2014, which had a false statement in the title of the letter, and he had reason to believe that the document is false, in the same place and time.

The trial before Judge Azura Alwi continues May 19.

-- BERNAMA