Court to rule tomorrow whether to call for Zahid's defence

SHAH ALAM – Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will know tomorrow whether he has a case to answer on 47 corruption counts involving tens of millions of ringgit from his charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.

High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah will decide at 9.30am whether the former deputy prime minister has to enter his defence or acquitted of the charges.

Sequerah fixed the date for decision after hearing arguments at the end of the prosecution’s case which concluded on Dec 6, last year.

The submissions hearing lasted for a total of 24 days since Sept 6, the same year.

After calling a total of 99 witnesses, the prosecution rested its case on March 19, last year.

Among the prosecution witnesses called to testify in the trial which started on Nov 18, 2019, were Zahid’s former special officer Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, law firm Lewis & Co partner B. Muralidharan, money changer Omar Ali Abdullah and Zahid’s former executive secretary Major Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly.

Zahid, 69, had pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges, eight counts of bribery and 27 counts of money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

For the CBT charges, Zahid was alleged to have used the funds to make six payments for his personal credit cards usage, insurance policy and licence for his personal vehicles, remittances to a law firm and contributions to the Royal Malaysia Police Football Association.

The offences were allegedly committed at the Affin Bank Bhd branch in Jalan Bunus off Jalan Masjid India, here, between Jan 13, 2014, and Dec 23, 2016.

The charges, under Section 409 of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of between two and 20 years, and with whipping, and fine, upon conviction.

Zahid was also charged with eight counts of bribery, where he was alleged to have accepted bribes from three companies, namely Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services, Data Sonic Group Bhd and Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd as an inducement for him, in his capacity as the Home Minister then, to help the companies obtain MyEG projects, supply of passport chips and to be appointed as the operator of the migrant visa one-stop centres in Pakistan and Nepal, respectively.

He was charged with committing the offences, framed under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, at the Maybank branch at Dataran Maybank in Jalan Maarof, Bangsar, here, between July 15, 2016, and March 15, 2018.

The Bagan Datuk MP also faced 27 charges of money-laundering by engaging in direct transactions involving income from illegal activities between March 29, 2016, and April 11, 2018.

The offences were allegedly committed at Malayan Banking Bhd, Dataran Maybank branch, Level 1, Tower A, No. 1 Jalan Maarof, Bangsar and Marhaba Enterprise Sdn Bhd, LG 1.15, Fahrenheit88, 179 Jalan Bukit Bintang, here, between March 29, 2016 and April 11, 2018.