KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the high court today that Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) funds amounting to RM65 million he allegedly received and transferred into fixed deposit accounts of a legal firm were not illegal money.
Zahid, 69, on the other hand, said the RM65 million funds received through cheques were contributions from individuals and corporate bodies for charity purposes.
“I wish to stress that the funds are not from illegal activities as defined by the Amla Act (Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001),” he said when reading his witness statement while defending himself on 47 charges, namely 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight counts of bribery charges and 27 charges of money laundering, involving tens of millions of RM of YAB funds.
The former deputy prime minister said he also did not direct any lawyers or employees including clerk V. Sothilechmy of Messrs Lewis & Co to deposit money into fixed deposit accounts.
He said Sothilechmy had confirmed in court that he (Sothilechmy) received orders from lawyer B. Muralidharan to deposit the funds into fixed deposit accounts.
“When I appointed Messrs Lewis & Co to manage the funds, Muralidharan had told me that he would manage them by opening fixed deposit accounts so that the foundation would earn interest. Muralidharan also told me that he had to do so based on the law,” he said.
On YAB funds totalling RM5.9 million, the Bagan Datuk MP said he had never given orders to Muralidharan to make payment to buy two lots of bungalow land in Country Heights, Kajang from the fixed deposit accounts.
He said the YAB funds were handled by Muralidharan based on his sole discretion.
“Muralidharan is a person who has control over the handling of YAB funds with knowledge on the transactions of money movements in the accounts of clients and Muralidharan has the sole discretion to determine how much funds needed to be entered into fixed deposit accounts, ” he said.
Zahid also said the withdrawal RM5.9 million from the fixed deposit accounts by Muralidharan was to pay for two land lots for an Al-Quran study centre for those who would be retiring as well as tahfiz students who want to learn and memorise Al-Quran, not money from illegal activities.
Apart from that, Zahid said he never instructed money changer, Omar Ali Abdullah to exchange cash amounting to RM 7,511,250.20 for 35 cheques.
“As far as I remember, when Omar Ali was called to testify in court, he himself stated that he had taken the initiative to convert the cash contributions into cheques.
“When I met with Omar Ali to discuss depositing cash into the client account of Messrs Lewis & Co, Omar Ali told me that he would use his own initiative to convert the cash into several cheques,” he said.
Zahid said he had nothing to do with the conversion of cash to cheques.
“Therefore, I would like to emphasise that the sources of cash managed by Omar Ali are contributions and donations from Yayasan Al-Bukhary. I also state that the cash managed by Omar Ali is not money from illegal activities, ” he said.
The prosecution in an earlier opening statement stated that the money laundering charge would be proven by showing that Zahid received several cheques worth about RM65 million from individuals known and unknown to him.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow. – Bernama, June 27, 2022
