Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed trial to 45 charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power involving over RM114 million.
Some of the charges were related to funds belonging to Yayasan Budi while other involved him receiving gratification as inducement to help certain companies obtain contracts.
Also called up were his daughter Datuk Nurulhidayah; his brother Datuk Seri Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi; and son-in-law Datuk Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff.
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed trial to 45 charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power involving over RM114 million.
Clad in an orange Batik shirt, the Umno president and former deputy prime minister was calm when the charges against him were read in a packed Sessions Court here this morning.
He spent 55 minutes standing in the dock as the charges were read out to him.
Some of the charges were related to funds belonging to Yayasan Akal Budi while other involved him receiving gratification as inducement to help certain companies obtain contracts.
The Bagan Datuk member of Parliament was hit with 10 counts of CBT, eight counts of receiving graft, and 27 for money laundering.
He was alleged to have committed the CBT and corruption offences at two banks here between Jan 13, 2014, and March 15 this year.
All the charges were under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA) 2001, and the Penal Code.
Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi allowed RM2 million bail with one surety.
She allowed the bail be posted in instalments: RM1 million today and the balance by Oct 26.
She also ordered Zahid to surrender his passport to the court.
The prosecution team was led by former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.
Zahid’s legal team was headed by Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.
Zahid was detained at the MACC headquarters yesterday afternoon to have his statement recorded.
He had previously been summoned five times by the MACC to assist its investigation into alleged misappropriation of funds involving Yayasan Akal Budi, to the tune of RM800,000.
On July 2, Zahid was summoned for the first time to give his statement on the case, in which the charity body’s funds were allegedly used to pay his and his wife’s credit card bills.
A day later, he was summoned to MACC again, where he spent seven hours being questioned. Zahid had told reporters that there was no wrongdoing on his part with regards to the funds.
He said the incident was due to a mistake made by one of his officers, who had used the charity’s funds to make the payment instead of using a personal cheque.
Zahid said he had already explained the matter to the MACC, and the repayment was made in full to the charity back in 2016.
Also called up were his daughter Datuk Nurulhidayah; his brother Datuk Seri Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi; and son-in-law Datuk Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff .
MACC had also previously summoned him to assist its investigation into claims that he had met with members of the Saudi royalty, who had allegedly deposited RM2.6 billion into the personal account of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Source: NST Online
