Witness: Zahid said RM77m was for religious, welfare purposes

ZAHID TRIAL | The 92 cheques worth almost RM77 million that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi instructed to be banked into Yayasan Al-Falah’s account were for “religious and welfare purposes”, a partner at law firm Messrs Lewis & Co told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today.

The law firm represents Yayasan Al-Falah.

Cross-examined by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Lee Keng Fatt this morning, the partner, B Muralidharan (above), said a verbal reply from the former deputy prime minister was the only verification he had made with regard to the source of the funds.

Lee: Did you verify the source of the funds or cheques given to you by Datuk Seri (Zahid) before you deposited it (into Yayasan Al-Falah’s account)?

Muralidharan: Your Honour, I did ask him. He told me, these are contributions for religious and welfare purposes.

Lee: Is that the only verification you made?

Muralidharan: Yes that was it.

Muralidharan is the 87th witness in the Umno president’s criminal trial in relation to funds belonging to his foundation, Yayasan Akalbudi.

Zahid, who is the Bagan Datuk MP, is facing 47 charges - 12 for alleged criminal breach of trust, 27 for money laundering and eight for corruption.

Earlier, Lee had asked Muralidharan to verify the 92 cheques and banker’s cheques the latter had received from Zahid.

The lawyer was also asked to verify 28 fixed deposit accounts involving almost all the cheques in question.

All Yayasan Al-Falah’s records were kept in a red-coloured ledger.

Lee questioned Muralidharan on his earlier statement that a former Lewis & Co colleague had been a trustee at a foundation for Alzheimer’s disease in the 1990s.

The lawyer responded saying his former colleague’s involvement did not mean the law firm itself was a trustee of the foundation in question.

He added that the firm never received any funds from the Alzheimer’s disease foundation.

Lee: When your former colleague was a trustee (at the Alzheimer’s disease foundation), was any money from the foundation deposited into (accounts belonging to) Lewis & Co?

Muralidharan: No, Your Honour.

Today’s proceedings were in connection to the money laundering charges, where Zahid is accused of instructing Lewis & Co to deposit cheques worth tens of millions of ringgit into a client’s account.

He is also accused of instructing Lewis & Co to move a large sum of the money into fixed deposit accounts in the law firm’s name.

Zahid is accused of purchasing two bungalows worth a total of RM5.9 million with the money in question.

Earlier on in the criminal trial, witnesses from Lewis & Co confirmed Yayasan Al-Falah as one of its clients but denied the law firm had acted as a trustee for Zahid’s Yayasan Akalbudi.

Yayasan Al-Falah is a foundation run by Zahid’s younger brother, Mohamad Nasee Ahmad Tarmizi @ Hamidi. Yayasan Akalbudi, meanwhile, solely belongs to Zahid.

On Wednesday, Muralidharan told the court that all money deposited into Yayasan Al-Falah’s account had originated from Zahid.

He further testified that not only had Zahid instructed him to open an account for the foundation, the politician also asked him to start a ledger on Yayasan Al-Falah for the purpose of recording all transactions.

DPP Raja Rozela Raja Toran previously questioned Muralidharan why he, as Yayasan Al-Falah’s lawyer, had deposited money into the foundation’s account when the money did not originate from the foundation.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong, Your Honour.

“My client is Yayasan Al-Falah. Datuk Seri Zahid gave me the money to pay to Yayasan Al-Falah,” Muralidharan had answered.

Throughout the trial, Zahid’s defence counsel has been proposing to the witness that Lewis & Co was a trustee to Yayasan Akalbudi.

Muralidharan previously denied this, as did his co-partner V Premshangar.

The hearing continues before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. - Mkini