More dirt emerge on PM's private secretary

By Teoh El Sen
PETALING JAYA: New allegations of corruption have surfaced against Zakiah Ibrahim, the Prime Minister’s private secretary who was recently accused of accumulating some RM200 million in wealth by misappropriating funds.
PKR leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegu Bard, said he was in possession of documents containing the allegations, including photos of a mansion said to belong to Zakiah and to cost RM5 million.
He called again for a response from Zakiah and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
FMT has also received, by e-mail, a copy of the new allegations.
The informant, now calling himself "Deep Throat JPM", questioned how Zakiah had managed to acquire such an expensive home on a private secretary’s salary.
He attached to the e-mail a set of photos of the mansion in Taman Setiawangsa, claiming that Zakiah had been staying there since last December. One of the photos bears the caption “Zakaya”, a play on Zakiah’s name and the Malay word for “wealth”.
"If she is brave, then deny that she has a mansion worth RM5 million with the interior design costing up to RM2 million, as she hired the best consultants from Da Vinci Group Holdings," the informant wrote.
Chegu Bard lamented that MACC had done nothing about the allegations of Zakiah’s corruption, which have been in the news for more than a week.
He said: "The problem is this: if it was a Pakatan leader that was being accused as such, MACC would act as if they were fire fighters and rush in to try their very best to dig more dirt and blow up the issue.
"But why is MACC this time so silent and deaf?
"I challenge MACC to honestly investigate and give an explanation on whether Zakiah is really guilty of all those things she has been accused of.
"I also challenge Zakiah herself to come forward. There are a lot of things that are doubtful here, including her bank loans and the new allegation on her home. The public deserves to know."
Waiting for more documents
Asked whether he would be lodging a report with the MACC, Chegu Bard said he was waiting for more documents from the same source as well as other sources.
He said he had sent a letter to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak but had yet to receive a response.
'Deep Throat JPM' challenged Zakiah (right) to deny that she arranged a loan of RM200 million from two financial institutions to an alleged crony company for a business worth RM20 million.
He said: "Can she deny that on May and June she met with a Datuk O, an Umno division head from a state up north, on a solar project with the promise of a RM5 million commission?
“Who are the two Chinese businesswomen who eventually acquired the project and allowed Zakiah to share the profit of RM35 million, RM30 million more than promised by the Umno man?
"We also challenge MACC to investigate a direct negotiation project in Sabah involving one of Zakiah's cronies. Also investigate what has happened to the gold mine project in Pahang.”
He alleged that Zakiah teamed up with relatives of the Pahang Menteri Besar to start the gold mining project.
Immense influence
He also alleged that Zakiah had "absolute power" over the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance and claimed this could be confirmed by Fauziah Yaakob, secretary of the Finance Ministry’s government procurement division.
Deep Throat JPM promised that more "shocking" exposures would follow.
Early this month, FMT reported that an informant had accused Zakiah of misappropriating funds and accumulating the extraordinary amount of RM200 million.
The allegations were made in a set of documents purportedly leaked by an insider.
The documents described Zakiah as “a woman with immense influence in the Prime Minister's Office” and alleged that her modus operandi was to switch proposals made by other companies with those of her own cronies and to share the wealth thus acquired with Umno division heads or members of royalty.
Attempts to reach Zakiah for comment have been unsuccessful.