KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court fixed Jan 24 to deliver its decision on former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption trial.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah fixed the date after hearing submissions from the defence and prosecution over the last 24 days since Sept 6.
“We will block some trial dates in the event the defence is called,” he said.
The court set another 18 days for hearing from March 28 to 30, April 11 to 13, April 26 to 28, as well as May 23 to 26 and June 27 to 30.
Zahid is standing trial on 47 charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving funds from Yayasan Akalbudi, and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as the home minister.
Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.
Zahid’s trial began on Nov 18, 2019 and was heard for 52 days over a period of two years.
In their closing submissions, lead defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik reiterated that no direct testimony had been presented to show wrongdoing committed by Zahid.
The defence pointed out that crucial witnesses on Zahid’s eight corruption charges had told the court that money given to Yayasan Akalbudi was a political donation.
On the money laundering and CBT charges, Zahid’s lawyers said he cannot be held liable as his personal and Yayasan Akalbudi cheque books were in the exclusive possession of his then executive secretary, Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly.
They claimed that Mazlina was “negligent” in using Yayasan Akalbudi’s money to pay Zahid’s credit card debts and car insurance policies.
Deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran told the court Zahid was the “ultimate boss” and called the shots in Yayasan Akalbudi.
She said a sum of RM107,509.55 from Yayasan Akalbudi was used to pay for insurance policies for vehicles belonging to Zahid, his wife Hamidah Khamis and former aide Juhari Janan.
The prosecution told the court Zahid also had five credit cards from Ambank and Maybank, and RM1.3 million of the foundation’s money was used to settle the payments.
It also said that in the corruption cases, the court should look at the evidence and circumstances on why the money was paid to Yayasan Akalbudi, and not take witness testimony at “face value”.
The prosecution also questioned if the money paid to Zahid was a political donation, saying such funds should be deposited in Barisan Nasional’s account and not that of Yayasan Akalbudi. - FMT
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