Muhyiddin’s trial: Banker confirms RM19.3m went into Bersatu’s CIMB account, says red flags triggered suspicious transaction report
KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — A total of RM19.3 million in 28 cheques was deposited into Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s CIMB account from August 2021 to November 2022, a banker confirmed in former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s trial today.
Menara CIMB KL Sentral bank branch manager Lee Hui Nee, 58, was testifying as the second prosecution witness in Muhyiddin’s corruption and money laundering trial at the High Court.
Lee today verified all the RM19.3 million cheque deposits, based on the cheques and Bersatu’s CIMB bank statements.
Out of the 28 cheques to Bersatu, four of them were CIMB cheques from Azman Yusoff totalling RM4 million, while Mamfor Sdn Bhd issued a Bank Muamalat cheque dated September 10, 2021 for RM1 million.
In this trial, Muhyiddin has been accused of abusing his power as the prime minister then and as Bersatu president to obtain bribes totalling RM225.3 million from three companies and one individual (Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Mamfor Sdn Bhd and Azman Yusoff) for his “associate”, namely his party Bersatu.
The prosecution is also seeking to prove that Muhyiddin committed money laundering by receiving illegal funds totalling RM120 million and RM75 million deposited into Bersatu’s CIMB account, and RM5 million deposited into Bersatu’s AmBank account.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin on whether she remembered the rough total of money which entered Bersatu’s CIMB account, Lee said it was in the “tens of millions” and confirmed that these funds had all been deposited after December 1, 2020.
Asked if CIMB had submitted suspicious transaction reports (STR) when tens of millions entered Bersatu’s account, Lee initially said she could not confirm this as STRs are confidential information that cannot be shared.
Wan Shaharuddin then said everyone including the court and Muhyiddin would want to know and urged her to disclose for fairness purposes, with Lee then replying: “For transactions that are unusual, very large amount, STRs will be raised.”
When Wan Shaharuddin asked if STRs were issued specifically in this case involving Bersatu, Lee confirmed there were such STRs but did not specify when or how many STRs were made.
Later when asked by deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Jumaat on why she had filed an STR on Bersatu’s account, Lee said the bank’s system would show “red flags” if there are accounts with a high volume of transactions that are inconsistent with the account’s profile, and that the branch would then review the account and file an STR to CIMB’s headquarters.
Confirming that her branch did make STRs to CIMB’s headquarters, she said the branch does not have knowledge of what happened next as STRs are confidential matters that would be dealt with between CIMB’s headquarters and Bank Negara Malaysia.
Mahadi then asked why she felt the deposits of money were inconsistent with Bersatu’s account profile, with Lee then saying “because the frequency and amount is very high”.
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