KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here was told that Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi did not benefit from the RM250,000 loan his younger brother, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi, took from a textile wholesaler.
Lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, representing Zahid, said this is because Nasaee had paid the said amount to the law firm Messrs Lewis & Co.
The lawyer said textile wholesaler Junaith Asharab, who is the 36th prosecution witness, had testified that Nasaee personally wrote down, “law firm, Messrs Lewis & Co” to be the payee.
“According to Junaith, the cheque then cleared into Lewis & Co client’s account on July 15, 2016,” he said adding that Nasaee was never called by the prosecution to explain why the sum was made payable to the firm.
“There is no iota of evidence that the accused was aware of this or a party of the loan transaction. The accused did not receive the alleged gratification and there is absolutely no basis to say it was an inducement,” he said in his submission at the end of the prosecution’s case before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Hisyam said during cross examination, Junaith reiterated that the loan had nothing to do with the accused.
Therefore, he insisted that the corruption charge against his client is completely baseless and groundless.
Earlier, Sequerah had allowed Zahid’s application to cut short today’s proceedings at 11am for the accused to attend Parliament.
The Bagan Datuk MP’s lawyer, Hamidi Mohd Nor, informed the court that his client received a letter from the secretary of the Dewan Rakyat yesterday evening, and is thus requesting that today’s proceedings be adjourned at 11am.
Sequerah then allowed Zahid’s application as the prosecution did not raise objections over the matter.
Meanwhile, Sequerah also queried the defence team on why the purported donation in the millions from Yayasan Al-Bukhari (YALB) to Yayasan Akalbudi was not made via cheques, but in cash.
The question was posed to Zahid’s lead counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, when he was arguing for why the 27th money-laundering charge against the accused must fall.
Sequerah: All this cash was meant to be a donation from Yayasan Al-Bukhari to Yayasan Akalbudi? Wouldn’t it be easier to write a cheque. Why bring a bagful of cash?
Hisyam: That’s our complaint, My Lord. The prosecution did not investigate it. The answer can only come from Yayasan Al-Bukhari.
“We asked the investigating officer, but the investigating officer never investigated. Because there was no investigation, we cannot say the cash were proceeds from an unlawful activity, unless and until they investigate, and unless and until they call a witness from Yayasan Al-Bukhari before My Lord and give evidence.
“No investigation, whatsoever. Because there was no investigation, cannot say these were illegal proceeds, so the charge falls. To conclude, we challenge and invite the prosecution to show us evidence that Yayasan Al-Bukhari never donated,” he added.
On July 27 last year, trial witness Omar Ali Abdullah testified that a money changer, who allegedly laundered money on behalf of Zahid, told the court that the former deputy prime minister had asked him to help deposit welfare donations into the accounts of charity body Yayasan Akalbudi.
The 81st prosecution witness said several men from YALB would contact and then meet him at various locations.
He said that when he received the first call from someone he did not know and was told to meet him on the ground floor of Fahrenheit Plaza here, the man passed him a luggage bag filled with cash.
Zahid, 68, faces 47 charges – 12 for criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering – involving tens of millions in Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
As for the 26th money-laundering charge, Zahid is accused of having committed the offence by engaging directly in a transaction involving proceeds from an unlawful activity by giving instruction for the purchase of two property lots using a RM5.9 million cheque issued by law firm Messrs Lewis & Co.
The defence continues its submission tomorrow. – Bernama, September 14, 2021
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