Zahid used RM1.5m of foundation’s money for personal expenses, court told
Amount used by Zahid for credit cards, vehicle insurance policies and road tax for 20 vehicles, says investigating officer
THE High Court yesterday was told that almost RM1.5 million of Yayasan Akalbudi funds were used by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to pay for his credit cards, vehicle insurance policies and road tax for 20 vehicles belonging to his family.
This was revealed by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Khairuddin Kilau, 44, in the former deputy prime minister’s trial involving the misappropriation of funds from the charity foundation.
The 99th and final prosecution witness said based on investigations, he found that Zahid had used the money to pay for nine credit cards belonging to him and his wife, Datin Seri Hamidah Khamis.
This included RM1,362,037.81 and another RM107,509.55 to make payments for vehicle insurance policies and road tax for 20 vehicles.
Eighteen of the vehicles were luxury brand cars and high-powered motorcycles, including a BMW X5, a Mini Cooper S, an Audi Q7, a Toyota Land Cruiser and a BMW R1200 GS motorcycle.
Khairuddin said Zahid had used RM1,296,715.98 of Yayasan Akalbudi funds to pay for his AmBank Islamic credit card, RM34,686.03 for his Maybank card and RM30,635.80 for his
American Express card.
“There were also AmBank Islamic and Maybank supplementary credit cards under Hamidah’s name.
“Based on my investigations, I found that there were many transactions done outside of the country and there were also payments using Yayasan Akalbudi funds via the foundation’s Affin Bank Bhd cheques between 2014 and 2016,” he said under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt. Khairuddin will continue to testify when the trial continues before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah next Thursday.
Zahid, 68, is facing 47 charges, 12 of them for criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit of funds from Yayasan Akalbudi.
Earlier, the High Court heard from another witness that Zahid had casually asked for a RM10 million donation from a Singaporean businessman during a dinner event in 2015.
MACC investigating officer Christ Sheldon Anak Merun, 32, who is the 98th prosecution witness, said Zahid wanted the money for Yayasan Akalbudi.
He said this during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffery Ong.
Christ Sheldon said the businessman, Wong Sang Woo @ Wong Shuh Chain, had revealed that Zahid made the request during a dinner immediately after they first met.
“Wong said Zahid had asked him about making a donation to the poor and those in need. Wong agreed to make a donation to Yayasan Akalbudi, a foundation founded by Zahid.”
Christ Sheldon said in early 2016, Wong received a call from a person who was instructed by Zahid to ask about the RM10 million donation and explain about the charity work the foundation was carrying out.
He also said investigations showed Wong had resorted to borrowing money to make the RM10 million donation.
He said Wong had to borrow money from KTS Holdings Sdn Bhd through a friend of his, Ngu Ngiong Hieng.
He said in the name of friendship, Ngu had lent the money temporarily to Wong so that he could fulfil his promise to Zahid.
He said Wong, who was the director of Chia Bee Enterprise Sdn Bhd, made the donation through the company to boost its profile.
“He said it was something special when the (then) deputy prime minister asked for donations from him.”