There was a rather interesting court case last week. Interesting for two reasons: one, it throws some light on how the system worked when Umno was in power and, two, it gives an indication of where PPBM could be headed.

On Jan 4, the Court of Appeal sentenced businessman Mohd Mustafa Mohd Khalid to three years’ jail after dismissing his appeal against a conviction for cheating a company managing director of RM1 million.

Mustafa, 56, a “Datuk”, was found guilty by the Sessions Court on Feb 19 last year of cheating Kamaludin Janis, the managing director of Syarikat MN Resource Sdn Bhd, of RM1 million.

Mustafa duped Kamaludin into believing that a letter of intent from the finance ministry dated July 6, 2009, which he gave the latter was genuine. The letter had the title “Proposal to Supply a Scanning System (100%) for Imported Goods to the Royal Malaysian Customs, for Rental”.

He was accused of fraudulently getting Kamaludin to hand over RM1 million for obtaining the letter. The offence took place at Hotel Malaya in Kuala Lumpur in July 2009.

According to what was revealed in court, Kamaludin had appointed a consultant, Amrul Nizam Anwar, to find a political link to get a government contract valued at RM12 million.

Amrul had, during the trial, testified that Mustafa was close to Umno as he was a former Pahang Umno Youth leader and that he was also close to Najib Razak, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister.

Several interesting points emerge from this court case: One, it is worth a handsome sum of money to know someone in power; two, being in a position in the ruling party (in this case Umno) can help you make money; three, firms (many, I am told) use aides or officers connected to ministers, or cozy up to people with connections, to try to secure contracts; four, there is a category of “consultant” that most of us have not heard of; five, such dealings take place in hotels; and six, sometimes businessmen do get cheated by those claiming to have connections.

This case indicates that companies that want million-ringgit government projects, which ensures instant monetary success, may not be shy about bribing their way to the contract.

It indicates that such firms would likely use go-betweens to grease palms.

It indicates that if you hold a position in the most important party that runs the government, as Umno was in the past, or are close to decision-makers or leaders who can influence decisions, you are much sought after.

Could this be why there was such a keen contest for Umno divisional leadership positions and Supreme Council posts in the past? I am told that you would need to spend several million ringgit to win the post of divisional leader.

No wonder then that someone who has invested so much money in gaining power would want to recoup his principal and make some profit by lobbying for contracts for himself or for others for a commission.

Someone whom I once met told me it was quite common to give a percentage of the contract amount to various people along the chain of influence. This is usually handled by the middleman.

I wonder how many successful companies used such middlemen in the past. More interestingly, how many continue to use such middlemen today?

FMT reported on Jan 3 that an Umno leader, who did not want to disclose his name for obvious reasons, revealed it was normal for party division chiefs to be given projects under the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

He said: “If an Umno division chief was popular and well liked, and could bring in votes, he or she stood a better chance of getting bigger contracts.”

See how the system works?

The FMT report quoted the Umno leader as saying that sometimes the money received from these contracts would be kept at home to make it easier for party leaders to hand out cash without leaving any trace of the under-table money.

No wonder we now hear of bales or bags of cash amounting to millions being kept in condominiums and other places.

It also explains why, when PPBM vice-president Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman called on the party leadership to ensure divisional leaders were given contracts so that they could use the money to fund party activities, he was applauded by delegates to PPBM’s recent annual general assembly.

He is also reported to have said that elections must be won “by hook or by crook”. My, my. This is the guy who was chairman, and before that secretary, of the Election Commission for many, many years under the rule of the BN. And he is now VP of PPBM whose chairman is the prime minister and whose president is the home minister.

According to another FMT report, a high-ranking PPBM leader admitted that a group of division leaders were out to make money now that the party was in power.

He was quoted as saying money politics was emerging in PPBN and that these division chiefs were “no different from the Umno warlords”.

How can they be different, I ask you? Do I need to point out that most or almost all PPBM members were formerly in Umno or were sympathisers?

And isn’t it interesting that many MPs and divisional and branch leaders who quit Umno want to join PPBM?

It gives us an inkling of where PPBM may be headed if the leadership does not strike out a new path.

Also, we are reading reports of aides to current government leaders, or people claiming to be aides to leaders, demanding for kickbacks.

In fact, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman came out with a statement to say he had nothing to do with a man posing as his assistant and seeking a 30% commission from funds allocated to Chinese vernacular schools.

Pakatan Harapan ministers need to ensure their aides do not act as middlemen or collectors of 10% or 30% of contract sums in their name or in the name of their parties. Otherwise, it will be the proverbial “same old, same old”.

Malaysians are expecting something better from PH. They don’t want to hear of court cases related to corruption involving ministers or aides to ministers or family members of ministers; or even conmen claiming to act for some minister.