Fong (left) and Azrul at the Kuching Court Complex in Petra Jaya.
KUCHING: Former State Legislative Assembly (DUN) secretary Supian Tarmizi Mohd Tazuddin has been granted permission by the High Court here to bring along relevant documents from the DUN Secretariat Office to assist him as evidence in the ‘Blackhole’ case.
Yesterday, Supian told the court that auditors’ report for the approved trust fund involving the RM11 billion alleged by an Opposition member to have gone missing into a ‘Blackhole’ was laid at the DUN during its November 2012 sitting.
When testifying in the ‘Blackhole’ case involving the State Financial Authority (SFA) suing DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen for defamation, Supian said DUN members including Chong, who is Kota Sentosa assemblyman, had been given notice of it.
The witness also told the court that he could not recall Chong asking the then-chief minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and then-second finance minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh on whether the fund had disappeared or had been channelled to cronies and family members of the then-Barisan Nasional (BN) Sarawak leaders, or if it had been paid to approved agencies.
Supian, now legal officer in the State Attorney-General’s (AG) Chambers, was previously the deputy DUN secretary (from Jan 3, 2005 to Feb 6, 2011) before taking up the DUN secretary post (from Feb 2, 2011 to March 5, 2017).
He said all these during the examination-in-chief by state legal officer Azrul Mohammad Adzlan before High Court Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew.
The witness also gave evidence on the procedures and proceedings in the DUN.
When crossed-examined by Chong, Supian said it was an oversight of his to omit mentioning in a reply letter to Chong that he had only received four of his DUN questions instead of the total 10 questions.
To date, five witnesses including Supian had testified in court. Other witnesses were a female reporter, a reader of Sin Chew Daily newspaper and former director of SFA’s Finance Administration Unit.
Apart from Azrul, SFA and the Sarawak government were represented by state legal counsel Dato Sri JC Fong and legal officers Oliver Chua and Voon Yan Sin.
Chong, who is also Stampin MP, was assisted by counsels Chong Siew Chiang and Michael Kong.
In January 2013, Chong used the term ‘Blackhole’ to allege that RM11 billion had gone missing from the state coffers – this allegation prompted the SFA to file the defamation suit against Chon at the High Court Registry on April 3, 2013 g.
Fong is set to re-examine at 10am today.