THE prosecution in Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s graft trial has not found any evidence of unlawful activity by the Umno president, his lawyer told the court today.

Lead defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said that the 27 money laundering charges against the former deputy prime minister, involving his charity Yayasan Akalbudi, cannot stand as no laws were violated. 

“There was no illegal activity in regards to the donations to Yayasan Akalbudi,” Teh told the Kuala Lumpur High Court. 

Teh said the prosecution had accused Zahid of running a money-laundering scheme and exercising control over illegal proceeds by giving instructions to moneychanger Omar Ali Abdullah and lawyer Muralidharan Balan Pillai from Messrs. Lewis & Co.

“My learned friend relied on section 4(3) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and came to the conclusion that there was unlawful activity based on inferences,” Teh said, referring to the prosecution.

“It’s quite clear that Omar Ali did not commit any banking offence under the banking laws,” Teh said.

The lawyer added that Muralidharan didn’t violate any law as well. 

Under the Act, suspicious transactions must be reported to the authorities, in this case, Bank Negara.

But Muralidharan had said there were none, and that all transactions were legitimate for the purpose of charity, Teh reminded the court.

Zahid, who is Bagan Datuk MP, is facing 47 charges – 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery – involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds belonging to his charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.

Twenty-five of the money laundering charges involve Zahid allegedly giving instructions to Muralidharan of Lewis & Co.,which was the trustee of Yayasan Akalbudi.

These charges relate to funds of over RM53 million allegedly from unlawful activities placed in fixed deposit accounts.

The 26th charge concerns RM7 million placed in fixed deposits subsequently withdrawn by Lewis & Co., out of which RM5.9 million was eventually used to buy two bungalow lots in Country Heights, Kajang, for Zahid’s brother’s religious foundation Yayasan Al-Falah.

In the 27th charge, Zahid was alleged to have instructed moneychanger Omar to convert RM7.5 million of cash into 35 cheques given to Lewis & Co. to be placed in fixed deposits.

The defence today also argued that the criminal court has the jurisdiction to hear the defence of Zahid’s claim for immunity. 

Earlier, the prosecution said that it should have filed for a judicial review on immunity for Zahid at the civil courts.

Zahid has claimed that he should have immunity from the charges as he had disclosed information to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during its investigations.

The hearing continues on Monday before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. – November 30, 2021.