Large withdrawals, deposits in company’s account despite having no business activities – witness
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here was told that despite not carrying out any business activities, there were large cash withdrawals and deposits made to the bank account of a company allegedly involved in Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption case.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Mohd Zamri Abdul Rashid, 36, said his investigations found that the company, Berani & Jujur Trading, with a registered address at an apartment unit, had no employees and did not carry out any business activities.
“Financially, I found the company’s account was too active with large withdrawals and deposits. According to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, the company is involved in agriculture and textile businesses.
“Further investigation and the raid on the premises (apartment) found that there was no sign of such a textile business being carried out,” he said in reply to deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi on the 47th day of the trial of the former deputy prime minister.
Mohd Zamri, who is the 92nd prosecution witness, said that two other companies allegedly involved in the case, Jogabonito Jewellery & Diamonds and Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services, both with a registered address at an apartment unit, were also found to have not carried out any business activities.
On the 11th, 12th and 13th charges, Ahmad Zahid was accused of having accepted bribes from Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services in a form of a cheque worth RM250,000 belonging to Jogabonito Jewellery & Diamonds, 13 cheques totalling RM8 million belonging to Mastoro and 10 cheques totalling RM5 million belonging to Berani & Jujur Trading.
All of the cheques were received by Ahmad Zahid through Junaith Asharab Md Shariff using a Maybank account belonging to Messrs Lewis & Co as gratification for himself as the then Home Minister to help Mastoro secure the MyEG projects under the ministry’s purview.
Prior to this, the court was told that Messrs Lewis & Co was a trustee of Yayasan Akalbudi owned by Ahmad Zahid.
When asked why he disagreed with the defence counsel’s suggestion that he was biased in his investigations into the three companies, Mohd Zamri said his investigations began in June 2018 and he had been able to gather all evidence even if it was obtained after the prosecution took place.
“All the 24 original cheques from the three companies were obtained after Ahmad Zahid was prosecuted because the banks needed time to surrender the original cheques and could only provide the copies first,” he explained.
Ahmad Zahid, 68, is facing 47 charges, 12 of which were for criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving millions of ringgit of Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
The trial before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. Bernama