FORMER Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who gave evidence at the High Court today, insisted that he never obtained any personal profit related to the Jana Wibawa Program.
Tengku Zafrul, as a prosecution witness, said that, on the contrary, indirectly, the Prime Minister at the time, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, had an interest in the program.
This is because, he said, it was Muhyiddin who suggested to the Finance Ministry to study the Bumiputera development program.
"During my service as Finance Minister under Tan Sri Muhyiddin's administration, I never obtained any personal profit in the form of money related to the Jana Wibawa Program.
"I confirm that I did not get any personal gain or reward in the form of money while holding the position of Minister of Finance under the administration of Tan Sri Muhyiddin related to the program," he said.
Earlier, Tengku Zafrul stated that around the second quarter of 2020, there were discussions with Muhyiddin to formulate a program to stimulate the development of Bumiputera contractors and boost the country's construction sector during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
He explained that Muhyiddin had asked the Ministry of Finance to think of suitable methods and procedures to help the Bumiputera contractor crisis.
“Following that, the Government Procurement Division of the Ministry of Finance, together with the top management of the Ministry of Finance (Secretary-General of the Treasury and Deputy Secretary-General of the Treasury), formulated and proposed the Programme for the Empowerment of Competent Bumiputera Contractors (Jana Wibawa) as a platform towards achieving the objectives proposed by YAB PM (Muhyiddin).
“A program similar to this actually existed during the previous government's administration, called the Program Pembangunan Kontraktor Binaan Bumiputera Berwibawa, which was established in 1993.
"However, I was informed that this program was stopped by the previous government. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has proposed that a program like this be revived with more comprehensive procedures and eligibility requirements," he said.
Muhyiddin is facing charges of abuse of position and money laundering in connection with the Jana Wibawa Project.
Tengku Zafurl, the Senior Political Advisor to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, began reading his witness statement at 10.05 am before High Court Special Corruption Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin.
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, earlier confirmed that the witness statement was submitted to the defence on June 15.
The court had earlier set the next hearing for July 6 to 17 and July 27 to 29. Other dates were set for August 17 to 21 and August 26 and 27.
Wan Shaharuddin said Tengku Zafrul's testimony would likely take several days. - July 6, 2026
