"Khir told me to buy it," claims Shamsuddin Hayroni....

A businessman testified today that he had "no choice" but to give former mentri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo a hefty discount and sold him property worth RM6.5 million property for RM3.5 million four years ago. He also said that he bought the property as Mohamad Khir’s told him to.

Ditamas Sdn Bhd director Datuk Shamsuddin Hayroni told the High Court he could not refuse Mohamad Khir’s proposal to buy the two-plot land and a bungalow for the price.

He said this was because he had development projects in Selangor and was afraid that his refusal to then mentri besar could damage his business.

"I did not agree. I told him (Mohamad Khir) it was too low. I wanted to sell it for between RM5 million and RM5.5 million after giving him some discount," he said in reply to questions from DPP Abdul Wahab Mohamed.

"After discussing with my wife, I had to agree to Mohamad Khir’s price because he was the MB. I was worried about my status as a businessman and that my projects in Selangor would be affected."

Shamsuddin, who was acquitted of a charge of abetting Mohamad Khir last week and turned prosecution witness, also revealed that it was Mohamad Khir, who had asked him to buy the property.

"Mohamad Khir had actually asked my friend Datuk Sumadi Ismail to buy the bungalow but when Sumadi said he could not as he had many commitments, Mohamad Khir asked me to buy it.

"It was the MB, who was asking me to buy. I saw that he was interested in property and thought he would buy it from me. So I just proceeded. I bought it under Ditamas because it would be easier to arrange for loan," he said. He bought the property at No. 8 and 10, Jalan Suasa 7/1L, Section 7 from property developer Saiful Aznir Shahabudin for RM6.5 million in December 2004.

Mohamad Khir, 45, who is Sungai Panjang assemblyman, and was mentri besar for almost eight years, is accused of committing graft in the land deal.

Shamsuddin(left), who was initially charged jointly with Mohamad Khir under Section 165 of the Penal Code and separately for abetting with the former MB, was acquitted on June 6.

He had been jittery in the witness stand on Wednesday, causing the trial to be postponed.

Defense counsel M. Athimulan has informed the court that the defence will tomorrow apply for documents pertaining to Shamsuddin’s statements to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission with a view to challenging his credibility through impeachment.

Earlier, freelance landscaper Nasir Ismail, 55, who on Thursday testified that he was paid RM6 million in cash installments to landscape the bungalow gardens to Balinese-concept, was accused of fabrication by Athimulan.

"Since you keep saying you have no records of the transactions and dealings made between you and Mohamad Khir, I put it to you that you met Mohamad Khir in May 2007 and not March 2006, which you said on Thursday.

"The total amount you received was only RM1.5 million (and not RM6 million)," he told Nasir, who disagreed.

Nasir told the court it was Mohamad Khir who had said there was no need for receipts for their transactions.

"He (Mohamad Khir) said I’ll pay in cash … no need receipts," he said. Athimulan also accused Nasir of lying to the court since he could as there was no documentation to records and details pertaining to the work completed.

Submitting an agreement for RM1.5 million, signed by Nasir and Mohamad Khir in May 2007, Athimulan insisted that this was the real contract between the two and that renovation works only started in 2007.

However, Nasir continued to disagree and maintained his testimony that renovation had started in 2006 and more than RM6 million was paid for the work. Dismissing Athimulan’s allegation, he told the court the agreement was "just for formality".

source:theSun

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