I paid law firm to manage payments as my ex-secretary was incompetent: Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has maintained that he paid RM17.9 million to law firm Messrs Lewis & Co to manage future payments on his behalf as his then executive secretary, Major Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly, was “unprofessional and incompetent” in the task, the high court here heard today.

Testifying in his own defence against the 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi, Zahid denied committing any offence by transferring the funds out from the foundation without its board’s approval.

Instead, he explained that he had done so in the best interests of the foundation as he had lost trust in Mazlina, who previously managed Akalbudi and his personal bank account.

“I had done so because I wanted the foundation’s funds to be properly managed by a professional accountant attached with a professional firm that will safeguard the monies appropriately.

“I lost trust in Major Mazlina due to her unprofessional and incompetent tendencies, such as writing the wrong amount on cheques or using Akalbudi cheques to pay off my personal expenses.

“I would like to stress that the funds in my personal bank account, which Mazlina managed at the time, were enough to pay off my personal expenses such as credit card payments, among other things,” he said during cross-examination by his lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal.

Zahid had previously testified in court that Lewis & Co was allegedly a trustee for Akalbudi.

However, this was refuted by the law firm’s managing partner V Premshangar, who testified that they had never managed Akalbudi’s accounts.

During his testimony, Zahid claimed that he had to pay for the alleged “carelessness” of others, including Mazlina, who has also admitted in court that she had made several mistakes when managing both payments for Zahid.

Mazlina, who is the prosecution’s star witness, had testified that she was negligent by making payments which exceeded the amount required for Zahid’s credit cards using the foundation’s cheques.

Earlier in his testimony to the court, Zahid had reiterated that the slew of criminal charges against him was the product of “political persecution” by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad whose latest stint as prime minister was from May 2018 to March 2020.

Zahid further explained that criminal charges were only brought up against him after Pakatan Harapan had won the May 2018 election.

He claimed that Dr Mahathir had allegedly “threatened” him to dissolve Umno or risk the consequences.

The case is being heard in front of Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah. – The Vibes, August 29, 2022