KUALA LUMPUR – The high court was today told that millions of ringgit that went to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Yayasan Akalbudi are donations, and not derived from unlawful activities.
Lead defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the prosecution has not produced any evidence that the proceeds were from unlawful activities, or that there was the commission of one or more offences, or that the accused’s conduct could lead or had led to the commission of offences.
“Based on the above arguments, it is respectfully and forcefully submitted that this ingredient has not been proven by the prosecution – no evidence that the monies involved were proceeds of unlawful activity or activities within the meaning of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001,” he said in his submissions at the end of the prosecution’s case before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Hisyam said the accused, on most occasions, did not know or have any nexus with the owners of the cheques from donors.
“The transactions were openly maintained and kept in trust accounts of the law firm Messrs Lewis & Co, and the money trails relating to the cheques could be traced with no attempts by the accused to conceal any of them.”
He said the 39th prosecution witness (SP39) Leong Siew Kong, a manager at the Maybank branch at Dataran Maybank here, confirmed that the bank did not receive any subsequent letter from Messrs Lewis & Co stating it was suspicious of the funds.
The court previously heard that various individuals and companies contributed to the foundation, and that the money was deposited into the law firm’s account.
“He (Leong) further confirmed that the reason for the placement was to earn higher interest, and there was no illegality about it. During re-examination, Leong said no red flag was raised for the required report to be made to the central bank, as the transactions were normal,” said Hisyam.
He pointed out that Yayasan Akalbudi received donations from Yayasan Al-Bukhari (RM500,000), Chia Bee Enterprise Sdn Bhd, owned by philanthropist Wong Sang Woo (RM10 million), and MyEG Services Bhd non-executive director Datuk Mohd Jimmy Wong Abdullah (RM9 million).
“Jimmy testified that he donated to the foundation for charitable purposes (building mosques), and he confirmed that an ‘akad’ (promise) was performed to signify acceptance of the donation.”
On the cheques paid by other individuals and companies to Yayasan Akalbudi, Hisyam said the prosecution did not produce evidence that cheques from Cergas Murni Sdn Bhd, HRA Teguh, Ong Weng Fatt, Hwa Thong Bags Industries, Hussein Annifah, Rajan Thurairetnam, Rajan Gunaratnam, Patt Siew Ming, Mohyiddin Al-Halabi, Tarbush Al-Halabi, AlHalabi Lounge Sdn Bhd and Mubarak Hussain were sourced wrongfully.
“The cheques that were obtained through SP81 (Omar Ali Abdullah), in particular, we say that the source of the monies was legitimate, as they were donations from Yayasan Al-Bukhari.
“Besides that, it is wrong for the prosecution to say all the donated monies were converted into cheques or bankers’ cheques, or demand drafts to diminish the money trail, due to an overwhelming line of evidence from the bankers of the cheque owners confirming that there was nothing hideous behind the transactions of these cheques.”
Former deputy prime minister Zahid, 68, faces 47 charges – 12 of criminal breach of trust, eight of corruption and 27 of money laundering – involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.
The defence will continue its submissions on Monday. – Bernama, September 9, 2021
