A managing partner of law firm Messrs Lewis & Co today denied that the firm was a trustee for charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi belonging to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
V Premshangar made the claim when replying to defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik at the Kuala Lumpur High Court at the trial of Umno president and former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is facing charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering involving funds belonging to the foundation.
The testimony by Premshangar, the 86th witness, supports the claim repeatedly raised by the defence throughout the trial, now into day 32.
Hisyam: I propose all cheques and banker’s cheques recorded in the file and ledger, the money belongs to Yayasan Akalbudi and not Yayasan Al-Falah. Do you agree?
Premshangar: I cannot answer as I did not handle this file. We do not have the Yayasan Akalbudi file in the office [...] we were never the trustee for Yayasan Akalbudi.
Premshangar said he had checked the ledger and file opening records at his office and verified that they had never opened a file for Yayasan Akalbudi.
“We never acted for Yayasan Akalbudi,” he said.
Aside from the witness, another partner at Lewis & Co is B Muralidharan.
Premshangar also testified that he had no personal knowledge as to the management of the Yayasan Al-Falah as it was handled by Muralidharan.
Yayasan Al-Falah is chaired by Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi, 58, who is Zahid's younger stepbrother. A previous witness, Lewis & Co accountant V Sothilechmy, had testified that the foundation was a client of the legal firm.
Sothilechmy had on July 30 claimed that the firm had opened a file for Yayasan Al-Falah in May 2016 for the purpose of charitable activities.
She also confirmed that Yayasan Akalbudi was not a client of the firm.
Previously, the 66th prosecution witness, lawyer and Yayasan Al-Falah trustee Faisalludin Mohamat Yusuff told the court that Al-Falah was chaired by Nasaee who was also a foundation trustee and its authorised signatory.
Faisalludin also explained the differences between the two foundations, namely that Yasayan Al-Falah is formed for the large family of Hamidi @ Ahmad Tarmidzi Radin Abdul Fateh - Ahmad Zahid and Mohamad Nasaee’s late father - while Yayasan Akalbudi Foundation was for Ahmad Zahid alone.
Ahmad Zahid is the founder, trustee and sole signatory for Yayasan Akalbudi.
Witness: I never received instructions from Ahmad Zahid on cheques
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Bagan Datuk MP, is facing 47 charges on which 12 are for criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering.
In relation to the money laundering charges, Ahmad Zahid is accused of receiving millions in ringgit in illicit funds in the form of various cheques via Lewis & Co most of which were then used to buying fixed deposit accounts.
Aside from that, the accused is also alleged to have bought two bungalows worth RM5.9 million, using the same funds.
Previously, the 57th witness, founder and chairperson of Country Heights Holdings Berhad Lee Kim Tiong @ Lee Kim Yew, testified that Mohamad Nasaee bought the two bungalows in Country Heights, Kajang using a cheque from Lewis & Co.
On March 3, the 39th prosecution witness, Maybank’s Dataran Maybank branch manager Leong Siew Kong confirmed that some RM99 million was deposited into Lewis & Co’s client account through 129 transactions between May 2016, and April 2018.
Of that sum, over RM66 million were transferred to fixed deposits via 28 fixed deposit payments from May 2016 to April 2018.
This was verified by Sothilechmy based on fixed deposit slips according to records of Yayasan Al-Falah file.
Meanwhile, in his witness statement, Premshangar said the Lewis & Co client account for Yayasan Al-Falah was opened on May 2016, however, he claimed he was not involved in managing the depositing of cheques and withdrawal of funds from the account.
He claimed those matters were handled by his partner Muralidharan.
“I never received any direct orders from Ahmad Zahid in relation to the depositing of cheques into that account and those instructions were between Ahmad Zahid and Muralidharan.
“I confirm that I had no knowledge of how Lewis & Co could be involved in managing money from Ahmad Zahid from the start as that was fully handled by my partner Muralidharan,” he said.
However, in cross-examination, the witness explained that he had merely handled civil litigation matters for the accused.
The main examination today was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt
Following the amendment to 12 of Zahid’s criminal breach of trust charges and two corruption charges by the prosecution yesterday, the defence was informed that the court intends to recall six witnesses that have previously testified.
The prosecution informed Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that they will inform the witnesses close to the time when they are needed so preparations can be made.
The hearing continues tomorrow. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.