KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told today that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Yayasan Akalbudi did not incur any “wrongful loss” of RM10 million given by the former deputy prime minister to a company.
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Lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh said the RM10 million was given to Armada Holdings Sdn Bhd’s CEO, Wasi Khan @ Wasiyu Zama Israr Ahmad, on Dec 8, 2015 as an investment in the company.
The court previously heard that the money was given to Wasi through Yayasan Akalbudi one month after he met Zahid for the first time at the home ministry.
Wasi had told the trial that he met Zahid to seek advice from the then home minister on whether the minimum paid-up capital for his company should be reduced from RM10 million to RM5 million to qualify for a Tenaga Nasional Bhd subsidiary company’s project.
“In fact, Wasi repaid the RM10 million along with interest amounting (to) RM69,722.65 and he also concurred with us that Yayasan Akalbudi did not suffer losses,” Hamidi told Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
“Thus, the prosecution has failed to prove the 19th charge of criminal breach of trust against my client for misappropriating RM10 million from Yayasan Akalbudi.”
Zahid is standing trial on 47 charges of money laundering and CBT involving funds from Yayasan Akalbudi, and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister.
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Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.
On another CBT charge amounting to RM1.3 million, Hamidi said the money, paid using Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, was a donation to the Royal Malaysian Police Football Association.
He said that the association at that time (November 2015) was having financial problems and could not pay the players’ salaries.
“The two trustees of Yayasan Akalbudi came to court and affirmed that the RM1.3 million was meant to ease the football association’s financial situation and they had sanctioned the payment,” he said.
The hearing continues tomorrow.-FMT