KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today heard that Datuk Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid, the eldest daughter of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has no connections with charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi, which belonged to the latter.
This was revealed by a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer in Zahid's trial over 47 charges of money-laundering, bribery and
criminal breach of trust (CBT) in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
Muhammad Fazli Zulkifli, 36, testified that Nurulhidayah did not hold any posts in the foundation."I confirm that Nurulhidayah held no position in Yayasan Akalbudi.
"At that time, she was working at Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB) as a marketing director," the witness said during examination in chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi.
Previously, the High Court heard that Nurulhidayah would be appointed as a director of Ri-Yaz Assets Sdn Bhd on behalf of Yayasan Akalbudi for her planned takeover of a majority of shares of the company when it was facing difficulties to repay a US$24.8 million Exim Bank loan for the purchase of a hotel in Bali, Indonesia.
However, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Manaf, the former director of the hotel management firm (Ri-Yaz Assets) who testified at that time told the court that he could not recall it being mentioned during the share takeover discussions.
Abdul Rashid said he had laid out several conditions for the takeover and one of them was for Zahid to pay a deposit that was equivalent to the outstanding amount of Ri-Yaz Assets' loan.
Another witness, former chairman of Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd (Exim Bank) Datuk Mat Noor Nawi, also previously testified that Zahid was willing to settle the overdue loan payment using Yayasan Akalbudi's money in his daughter's bid to take over some of the company's shares.
During today's proceedings, Fazli said based on his investigations, Nurulhidayah was appointed as the director of Ri-Yaz Assets on Jan 27, 2017, replacing Abdul Rashid who stepped down the same day.
"She then resigned as director on Jan 31, the same year.
"Both Nurulhidayah and Abdul Rashid did not proceed with the share takeover agreement," said the 93rd prosecution witness.
He added that when the agreement did not proceed, Nurulhidayah and Zahid had asked for the money to be returned to the bank account of law firm Messrs Lewis & Co as the money belonged to the foundation.
Fazli had also said in his testimony that on June 23, 2016, a bankers cheque of RM17.9 million was issued from the Yayasan Akalbudi account and transferred into the account of Lewis & Co upon Zahid's instructions.
He said from the amount, RM8.6 million was used to pay Ri-Yaz Assets the deposit for the takeover of 60 percent of shares from Abdul Rashid.
The trial continues before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Monday.
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