YAYASAN Akalbudi, the family foundation former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is charged with having misappropriated funds from, exists on paper but has no physical building.
Despite being in existence since 1997, its registered address in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur, has only ever been a grilled fish eatery.
No. 69E-4, Jalan Raja Abdullah in Kampung Baru is now a vacant lot, fenced up with a sign warning trespassers that it is a private property.
The charity foundation, established by Zahid’s family and described by him as a fund to support Islamic education, is registered as a limited company by guarantee with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) and was set up on March 18, 1997.
But Kampung Baru residents living around the site told The Malaysian Insight they had never heard of Yayasan Akalbudi operating in their neighbourhood, let alone the foundation’s name.
“Prior to this, it was a grilled fish restaurant but was demolished and is now an empty lot. In the 1990s, (before the grilled fish restaurant) it was a double-storey bungalow.
“The land is now a private property but we are uncertain who the owner is,” 70-year-old Latiff Ismail, a resident in the area, told The Malaysian Insight.
During the 14th general election, the lot was used as a campaign site for Barisan Nasional.
“After the election, nothing. Before that, there was only a grilled fish restaurant. I’ve never even heard of Yayasan Akalbudi ” said Rostam Baharuddin, 61.
Zahid was charged with 10 counts of criminal breach of trust yesterday for misappropriating RM20.83 million belonging to the foundation, of which he is a trustee. The offences in relation to the foundation took place between January 2014 and January 2016.
While he was being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Zahid was said to have used RM800,000 of the foundation’s funds to pay off his and his wife’s credit card bills.
Zahid has insisted that this was a genuine mistake committed by officers handling his bill payments.
Where such foundations typically publicise their good work and acts of charity, Yayasan Akalbudi, however, has almost no public profile with little publicity about it on the internet. It does not even have a website or a social media presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Besides the criminal breach of trust charges involving the foundation, Zahid, who was also former home minister, was charged with eight counts of corruption for abusing his power as home minister to receive gratification over projects involving passport chips, a one stop centre for foreign worker recruitment, and for projects involving government e-payment platform MyEG.
Altogether, the Umno president faces 45 counts involving a total of RM114.15 million.
He is out on bail of RM2 million, having paid half of it, with the balance due to be paid on October 28. – October 20, 2018.
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