Ex-Perak exco graft trial: Original minutes of meeting lost
(The Star) – A Perak Tengah district council administrative assistant told a corruption trial that she discarded the original copies of the minutes taken down during the council’s full board meetings.
Wan Nora Hasida Ngah, 26, whose duty is to prepare the minutes of each full board meeting, said during cross-examination Monday that she did not keep her handwritten notes after typing them out.
She was testifying against former executive council members Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu, 57, and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, 52, PKR politician Usaili Alias, 56, then Perak Tengah district councillor Zul Hassan, 45, and businessman Fairul Azrim Ismail, 31, over their involvement in a multimillion-ringgit project in Seri Iskandar.
Osman and Jamaluddin are the former PKR members whose resignation from the party ultimately led to the downfall of the then Pakatan Rakyat-led state government earlier this year.
The corruption trial was also informed by Wan Nora Hasida that the names of councillors who seconded or objected to the proposed development project during the meetings did not appear in the minutes because she had not jotted them down.
She, however, denied that the minutes had only been prepared after the accused were charged in court and before the trial began.
The prosecution had earlier tendered as evidence the minutes of the council’s full board meetings from Jan 2007 to Aug 2008.
At one point during cross-examination, Wan Nora Hasida almost broke down in tears when she could not answer as to who had come up with the initial proposal of the said project.
“I really don’t remember,” she said when defence counsel Surjan Singh asked whether she did not remember, did not know, or just did not want to tell.
Wan Nora Hasida’s answers had mostly been that she did not know or did not remember when cross-examined by lawyers of each of the accused.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has dropped charges against Perak State Development Corporation technician Ruslan Sahat.
Informing the court of the decision, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Jazamuddin Ahmad Nawawi said the 47-year-old had died of a heart attack on Aug 3.
Hearing continues Tuesday before Judge Azhaniz Teh Azman Teh.
