Dr M asked me to dissolve Umno, Zahid tells court

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had asked him to dissolve Umno because the latter claimed the party had no future and could not be trusted.

Zahid, 69, said at a meeting held in June 2018 after the 14th general election (GE14), Mahathir also asked him to tell all Umno members to join Bersatu for the sake of the Malays.

“In that four-eyed meeting, Mahathir said Umno had no future, Umno was dead, Umno was rejected by the Malays and BN voters were buried because its 13 component parties were reduced to only four.

“He asked me to jump from Umno to Bersatu. Mahathir said Umno could not be trusted, is a robber, corrupt, abhorrent and dirty. He asked for Umno to be dissolved and asked me to tell Umno members to join Bersatu,” he added.

Zahid said this during examination-in-chief by his lawyer Ahmad Zaidi Zainal when making his defence on 47 charges, namely 12 charges of criminal breach of trust, eight charges of corruption, and 27 charges of money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

Ahmad Zahid said he rejected Mahathir’s request and told him that as the Umno president he would be cursed by the party’s 3.8 million members if he dissolved the party and joined Bersatu.

The former deputy prime minister said the meeting was arranged by Bersatu’s Khairuddin Abu Hassan and former Gopeng Wanita Umno chief Hamidah Osman.

“Khairuddin and Hamidah told me that Mahathir wanted to meet me. At that time, I was not open to meeting him although he had become the prime minister,” he said.

Asked by Ahmad Zaidi what happened after meeting Mahathir, Zahid said: “I was threatened that if I did not defect to Bersatu and dissolve Umno, something would happen to me.”

Zahid said at a meeting that Mahathir held with UMNO’s top five leaders in September 2018, the same thing was said to them.

Ahmad Zaidi: Can Datuk Seri name the five leaders?

Zahid: I, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan and the three Umno vice-presidents, namely Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Mahdzir Khalid and Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Zahid said that following that meeting, the five of them decided to remain in Umno as opposition politicians.

He claimed that Mahathir held a grudge against him and was jealous of him after he was elected as the Umno Youth chief in 1996.

The Umno president also said he was released from Internal Security Act (ISA) detention after he followed the Special Branch director’s orders and wrote two letters of resignation as Umno Youth chief to Mahathir, who was then Umno president.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.

- Bernama