I had enough money to settle credit card bills, says Zahid

 

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says his former secretary had been negligent in issuing cheques from Yayasan Akalbudi.

KUALA LUMPUR: Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says he had more than enough funds in his personal bank account between 2014 and 2016 to settle his credit card bills.

The former deputy prime minister, who was being examined by his lawyer, Hamidi Mohd Noh, in his corruption trial, said he could afford to settle the monthly bills, which were between RM600 and RM215,000, during the period.

Taking the stand as the first defence witness, Zahid said he had “a minimum of around RM100,000 and a maximum of RM600,000” during that period to settle the bills.

“I could afford to settle the bills as there were more than sufficient funds in my personal bank account with Maybank,” he said.

The credit card payments are the subject matter of six of the 12 criminal breach of trust charges faced by the Umno president.

He is said to have issued 45 cheques from his charitable foundation, Yayasan Akalbudi, to settle the bills.

Zahid’s defence is that his former secretary, Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly, was the one who held the foundation’s cheque books and negligently made the payments to settle the bills.

Hamidi: Why did Mazlina use Akalbudi cheques?

Zahid: Maybe she was negligent. She could have used the Maybank cheque book to make payment for the credit card bills.

He said Mazlina had also admitted under cross-examination by his lawyer that she was negligent.

However, Mazlina had testified in 2020 that Zahid allowed the use of Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques for various payments, namely for his personal credit card bills, vehicle insurance and road tax for his vehicles, and payment to Persatuan Bolasepak PDRM and two companies, Armada Holdings Sdn Bhd and TS Consultancy & Resources.

Mazlina was Zahid’s executive secretary from 2011 to 2018 during his stints as defence minister, and subsequently, as home minister and deputy prime minister.

Zahid is also standing trial on eight charges of accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister. He is also facing 27 charges of money laundering.

The hearing before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. -FMT