Ilham Rizal & Arnie PDH Ishak

AN EXPERT witness from Hong Kong, Roger Thomas Best, who was called by the prosecution yesterday in the case against former Development Minister Pg Indera Wijaya Pg Dato Dr Ismail for corruption charges, told the court that Ted Sdn Bhd’s three projects were allegedly funded by the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) and cheques for which could be traced to HRH Prince Jefri Bolkiah’s Citibank “019″ account.

The witness stated in his testimony that he was requested to investigate the source of some of the funds used to pay the company, Ted Sdn Bhd, which was run by Wong Tim Kai, (the second defendant) for work on three projects.

The three projects, allegedly funded by the Brunei Investment Agency, were the 27 units of houses for the Kg Lambak Kiri Landless Citizens Scheme Housing Project, 33 units of houses for the Kg Lambak Kiri Landless Citizens Scheme Housing Project and the Lot 701 Kg Kiarong Drainage and Roadworks Project.

According to the prosecution, the expert witness was able to trace transactions over a 19-month period between August 3, 1995 and March 1, 1997 (being the relevant period when payments were made to Ted Sdn Bhd by way of Citibank’s manager’s cheques for three government projects covered during this trial).
The witness stated that those Citibank manager’s cheques could be traced back to Prince Jefri Bolkiah’s Citibank “019″ account. In total, the amount paid out for the three projects amounted to $2,229,565.28 (27 units Lambak Kiri), $3,883,447.38 (33 units Lambak Kiri) and $4,209,050.00 (Lot 701).

According to the witness, it was also revealed that during the same 19-month period, the total amount paid out to Ted Sdn Bhd from Prince Jefri Bolkiah’s Citibank “019″ account for various projects including the three projects already mentioned totalled $42,699,226.33.

In conclusion, Mr Best said that in his opinion the immediate source of funds for the above payments to TED Sdn Bhd was from Citibank and the intermediate source of the funds used to pay TED came from bank account number X-XXXXXX-019 in the name of D P D Jefri Bolkiah.

“I have further reviewed the source of credits to bank account number “019″ for the period from July 28, 1995 to December 31, 1997, which totals B$10,067,533,132.13. The remaining amounts were derived from sources controlled by the Brunei Investment Agency, a remittance from a fund manager, a Citibank account in the name of Istana Darul Hana, Jalan Tutong and bank account number X-XXXXXX-019.

“My analysis on the source of credits to the Istana Darul Hana account for the period from June 1, 1995 to December 31, 1995 shows that the source of all the credits into this account were from account
number X-XXXXXX-019,” he said.

The witness said he has also reviewed the source of credits to Citibank account of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, totalling B$12,412,395,575.97, coming from sources controlled by the Brunei Investment Agency.
The expert concluded that from all the analysis, the source of funds that financed the three projects discussed came from the Brunei Investment Agency.

Mr Best is a Chartered Accountant and a Senior Partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Hong Kong.
Over the past 22 years, he has provided expert accounting advice to the Hong Kong government, solicitors, listed companies, minority shareholders and individuals. He has given evidence at the arbitration hearings and to the courts on numerous occasions.

He has previously given evidence as an expert in the Royal Courts of Justice, London, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

The trial continues today.

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