AN investigating officer of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today took three hours to confirm 406 documents relating to charges of money laundering faced by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the funds of Yayasan Akalbudi owned by the former deputy prime minister.

Mohd Amirudin Nordin, 38, confirmed the documents submitted by the prosecution in the trial of Zahid before High Court Judge, Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Among the documents verified were cheques, copies of cheques, demand drafts, letters, receipts, forms and deposit slips obtained from two files owned by Tetuan Lewis & Co as a trustee of Yayasan Akalbudi.

“From the investigation, I received two pink paper files labelled as Yayasan Al-Falah (owned by the family of Zahid) and ‘Client’. Apart from that, there were 73 copies of cheques from various banks believed used by Zahid for money laundering which have been credited into the Maybank account of Lewis & Co,” he said during an examination in chief conducted by deputy public prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffrey Ong.

Zahid was accused of 27 counts of money laundering.

For the first to 25th charge, Zahid was accused of being involved in money laundering directly in transactions involving proceeds from illegal activities and giving orders to deposit money between RM600,000 to RM9.35 million into one account as well as ‘AKAUN PELABURAN AM-I’ as fixed deposit through the Malayan Banking Berhad account owned by Tetuan Lewis & Co, Peguambela dan Peguamcara, which were proceeds from illegal activities.

For the 26th charge, Zahid was accused of committing the same offences by giving orders on the purchase of two bungalows in Mukim Kajang, Hulu Langat District valued at RM5.9 million, using a Malayan Banking Berhad cheque belonging to Tetuan Lewis & Co, which was the proceeds from illegal activities.

For the 27th charge, Ahmad Zahid was accused of ordering money changer Omar Ali Abdullah to convert cash amounting to RM7,511,250.20 into 35 cheques which made out to Lewis & Co as fixed deposits in Maybank was a form of money laundering derived from illegal sources.

All the offences were committed at Malayan Banking Berhad, Dataran Maybank branch in Bangsar and Marhaba Enterprise Sdn Bhd, at Fahrenheit88, Jalan Bukit Bintang, in Kuala Lumpur, between March 29 2016 and April 11 2018.

Zahid, 68, is facing 47 charges with 12 of them involving criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption, and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

The trial continues tomorrow. – Bernama, March 9, 2021.