The High Court yesterday saw the prosecution bringing in the 13th and 14th witnesses - land officers of the Brunei-Muara District Land Office at the time of the alleged corruption between former development minister Pengiran Indera Wijaya Pg Dato Dr Ismail and Wong Tim Kai, the managing director of TED Sdn Bhd.
The witnesses testified that the TOL (Temporary Occupation Licence) land application by Pehin Kapitan China Dato Lim Teck Hoo on behalf of TED Sdn Bhd was approved for 1.3 acres and that an appeal was later made for an increase in size.
TED Sdn Bhd eventually asked for five acres of TOL land.
According to the testimonies, the earlier application for TOL land had been approved and the process came through the TOL land committee. But the five-acre TOL land was later granted by the then Minister of Development himself without going through the normal screening procedure with the TOL Land Committee for an industrial TOL land site.
The 13th witness - a land officer at the Brunei-Muara District Land Office from Sept 1991 to Sept 1993, only witnessed the application of TOL land in Kg Mulaut halfway, and the duties of processing the application was taken over by the 14th witness, Awg Hj Mohd Gazalin bin Pengarah Hj Mokti, a land officer at the same office, in September 1993.
In his statement, the 14th witness recalled being requested by the Confidential Clerk of the Commisioner of Land on June 27, 1994 to attend a meeting the following morning at the minister's office to discuss TED Sdn Bhd's appeal for TOL land at the Mulaut Industrial Site to have the total land size increased from 1.3 acres to five acres.
The witness also confirmed that a meeting was held at the time and date informed at the minister's office, and that it was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Development, Land Office and the Department of Town and Country Planning.
He added that he also took down notes on points of the meeting.
"According to the notes and my memory, the Minister of Development during the meeting instructed the Land Office to allocate TED Sdn Bhd with the original size of five acres on the grounds that the company was capable of developing the five-acre area and of constructing a road to the new site, and that the other approved developers nearby to TED Sdn Bhd's site could use the road," the 14th witness said in his sworn statement to the High Court.
"The Minister of Development also instructed the Land Office to discuss with the Department of Town and Country Planning the allocation of a suitable site to be given to TED Sdn Bhd."
Memorandums on the minister's instructions for the five-acre TOL land to be granted to TED Sdn Bhd were circulated to the Commissioner of Land and the Commissioner of Town and Country Planning.
Awg Hj Gazalin also recalled seeing in November 1994 the application for five acres of TOL land in Mulaut attached with a plan signed by Wong Tim Kai on behalf of TED Sdn Bhd. He said he thought the proposed land was outside the original scheme for industrial TOL land at Mulaut.
Following the minister's instructions to approve TED Sdn Bhd's appeal for five acres of TOL land for the storage of the company's heavy equipment and machinery and other industrial machinery, the declaration/agreement was signed by Wong Tim Kai and witnessed by a Senior Land Officer in December 1994, the witness said.
Awg Hj Mohd Gazalin also told the court that the earlier approval of 1.3 acres given to TED Sdn Bhd by the TOL Committee was chaired by the then Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Development, while the five-acre TOL site was not submitted to the TOL Committee for consideration.
The High Court trial will be hearing further testimony from the 14th witness on Saturday, October 24.
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