Tengku Zafrul tells court PM’s minutes are ‘instructions’, says he usually acted on all minutes issued by then‑PM Muhyiddin

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Former finance minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today said he had considered Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s “minutes” or handwritten notes as “instructions”, as the latter was the prime minister at that time.

Testifying as the 11th prosecution witness in Muhyiddin’s power abuse and money laundering trial, Tengku Zafrul said he had usually acted on all of Muhyiddin’s minutes, including the latter’s minutes regarding government projects under the Bumiputera contractors’ programme Jana Wibawa.

But Tengku Zafrul also clarified that Muhyiddin’s minutes or instructions were for the Finance Ministry to consider the companies for the projects, and not instructions to give the projects to these contractors.

“Usually, in my experience as a minister, minutes from PM is minutes that we have to take action or else the government doesn’t work, but to take action doesn’t mean you take action that is not right,” he told lead prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.

Tengku Zafrul explained that his own minutes as a minister to his officers also required further action, and those further action may also be followed with recommendations to agree or not agree, and that he could also subsequently agree or disagree.

“In this context, YAB PM, he is the superior, he is the prime minister, we are in the Cabinet based on his appointment, so for course his minute is an instruction. So in this case, his minute is to instruct myself and the Finance Ministry to consider, but it’s not an instruction to approve,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul confirmed that if Muhyiddin had written minutes to not consider any matter, he would have followed that: “Yes, if he minuted, no need to consider, then we will not take into consideration.”

Today, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that he had considered all these three as Muhyiddin’s “instructions”:

• Muhyiddin’s November 13, 2020 letter where he asked the Finance Ministry to immediate consider his proposal for a list of 54 contractors to be appointed through direct negotiation for 54 projects under Jana Wibawa;
• Muhyiddin’s February 3, 2021 minutes agreeing for a pre-qualified or limited tender among five companies which had applied for a Pulau Indah highway project under Jana Wibawa;
• Muhyiddin’s March 17, 2021 minutes also agreeing for a pre-qualified tender among five other companies which had applied for a project to build the Klang Utara district police headquarters under Jana Wibawa.

Tengku Zafrul confirmed he had acted on the letter and the two minutes, which he had viewed as instructions, remarking at one point: “I usually act on all the minutes of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.”

Tengku Zafrul explained why he would ensure the Finance Ministry or himself takes into consideration companies’ applications for projects if they were forwarded by then-PM Muhyiddin.

“Coming from the prime minister, we “memang kena” (definitely had to) take serious consideration of any views the prime minister has. So in this case, in the context of these minutes, we took serious consideration and acted upon the minutes,” he said, adding that he then directed the Finance Ministry to start the process to see if these companies qualified for the projects.

When asked by Muhyiddin’s lawyer Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that he considered Muhyiddin as someone he respected as a prime minister at that point in time and even now.

Tengku Zafrul also agreed that he had a “sense of deference” towards Muhyiddin: “Yes, he was my PM at that time, of course.”

Tengku Zafrul was finance minister from March 2020 to August 2021 during Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister.

Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Complex for his ongoing trial July 7, 2026. — Picture by Raymond Manuel

PM is not a ‘postman’; no special treatment for project applications forwarded by PMO

For companies’ applications for government projects that were sent directly to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and then forwarded by the PMO to the Finance Ministry, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that he viewed the prime minister as having instructed the Finance Ministry to consider these proposals.

But Tengku Zafrul declined to view the PMO as just a “postman” for these companies’ applications, telling deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Jumaat: “I don’t want to degrade the PM’s office to just become a postman. So my answer is the PM is not a postman.” 

Even if the proposals for government projects came from the prime minister, Tengku Zafrul said the Finance Ministry would not approve these companies if they do not pass the ministry’s evaluation.

High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin today asked how Tengku Zafrul would handle situations where companies write letters directly to the prime minister to seek for support or approval for government projects, and where the prime minister has written minutes asking him to consider          

Tengku Zafrul said these companies’ wishes for the PM’s support would be irrelevant to the Finance Ministry’s consideration of whether a company is qualified for a project: “So in this case, many letters from the PM that were forwarded to the Finance Ministry and those letters asked for support or sometimes approval from the PM.

“And in many cases, if we see, like in this case, the YAB PM has no power to approve, so he will forward. So for us, we don’t really take into account what the company wants or its desire, we see whether the company qualifies first; if they qualify, then they stand a chance to participate. So if I can reply, it’s not relevant to us what’s inside the letter.”

Lawyer, Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Complex March 11, 2026. — Picture by Yusof Isa

Not improper for PM to forward companies’ project applications, Tengku Zafrul says

When asked by Amer Hamzah, Tengku Zafrul agreed that the fact that the PM had forwarded the list of 54 proposed contractors for 54 Jana Wibawa projects via direct negotiation, and also forwarded the companies’ applications for the two other projects were not “improper acts by the PM”.

Amer Hamzah had earlier suggested that PMO would still have to forward any list of proposed companies for Jana Wibawa projects to the Finance Ministry, since the PMO has no authority to process or approve the companies’ applications.

But Tengku Zafrul later clarified to the prosecution that the PMO could choose to not forward these applications: “Of course when someone submits to any officers including the PMO, it is up to them whether they feel it is necessary to forward to any ministries, in this case — the Finance Ministry. If they feel the letter is not worth or for any reasons known to them, is not worth forwarding to any party, including the Finance Ministry, it is within their authority to do so.”

Among other things, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that Muhyiddin had never enquired or checked on any of these companies’ applications for Jana Wibawa projects.

For the proposed list of 54 contractors sent by Muhyiddin, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that there was no guarantee that all the companies would get the proposed projects even though it was through direct negotiation: “Correct, unless all of them pass the evaluation.”

Tengku Zafrul said he could not confirm if all 54 companies in the list were awarded government projects through direct negotiation.

He also said that the Finance Ministry would not consider any applications sent by companies that were not in the list of 54 companies for the same listed projects, since the list was for direct negotiation.

As for the two projects — Pulau Indah highway and Klang Utara district police headquarters — which went through a pre-qualified tender participated by only five companies each, Tengku Zafrul confirmed that Muhyiddin would not know whether any of the companies he had forwarded would be awarded the projects.

Muhyiddin sent just one letter for Jana Wibawa contracts via direct negotiation, Tengku Zafrul’s aide says

Datuk Wan Murtadza Wan Mahmud, 52, who was Tengku Zafrul’s senior private secretary when the latter was finance minister and is currently Tengku Zafrul’s special officer, today testified as the 12th prosecution witness.

Wan Murtadza today testified that the prime minister had only sent one letter to the Finance Ministry for Jana Wibawa projects through direct negotiation, namely the proposal for the list of 54 companies.

He told deputy public prosecutor Noralis Mat that he heard from the Finance Ministry’s government procurement division that several of the 54 companies had failed the evaluation process.

But he could not remember which had failed and was unsure which of them had eventually succeeded after carrying out improvements to meet the required criteria.

Wan Murtadza later agreed with Muhyiddin’s lawyer Chetan Jethwani that “minutes” is generally a normal way of communication between ministries or between officers in the same ministry.

He agreed with Chetan that such minutes could not override processes within a ministry, and also agreed with Chetan’s suggestion that a minister would have to prepare a paper or “ulasan” to override these processes.

In this trial, Muhyiddin is facing seven charges, namely four counts of alleged power abuse to obtain RM225.3m bribes for Bersatu (from Nepturis, Azman Yusoff, Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, and Mamfor Sdn Bhd) and three counts of alleged money laundering through money that Bersatu received from Bukhary Equity.

The trial resumes tomorrow.

Recommended reading:

• ‘If it’s from the PM, I will act on it’: Ex-finance minister Tengku Zafrul says in Muhyiddin’s trial
• PMO proposed every Jana Wibawa contractor, Tengku Zafrul tells ex-PM Muhyiddin’s trial
• Tengku Zafrul tells Jana Wibawa trial he bears no malice against Muhyiddin