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KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Cheques worth RM13 million that were received by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as home minister in 2017 could not have been “donations”, the prosecution’s 92nd witness said in the Umno leader’s corruption trial in High Court here today.
Mohd Zamri Abdul Rashid, an investigator with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), explained that the companies that gave the funds were not even operating as businesses at that time.
He also dismissed the idea that bribery and corruption could only take place via cash transactions, adding that fund transfers through banks have been used in corruption cases.
The MACC officer was testifying about his investigations on bribes alleged to have been given to Zahid in 2016 and 2017 via businessman Junaith Asharab Md Shariff in the form of a RM250,000 cheque issued by Jogabonito Jewellery & Diamonds, 13 cheques worth RM8 million issued by Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services, and 10 cheques worth RM5 million from Berani & Jujur Trading.
Mohd Zamri said the RM250,000 cheque was given by Junaith to Zahid’s younger brother Datuk Seri Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi in July 2016 at the latter’s office in Cyberjaya.
He added that Junaith had in 2017 personally handed over the cheques totalling RM8 million and RM5 million to Zahid at the latter’s Country Heights residence with Nasaee present.
But Zahid’s lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh tried to suggest that the RM13.25 million worth of cheques issued by the three companies were actually “donations” given to Yayasan Akalbudi — a welfare foundation owned by Zahid — and deposited into law firm Lewis & Co’s client account to be held on trust.
Hamidi: I suggest that is the actual fact, this money is donation money given to Yayasan Akalbudi, do you agree or not?
Mohd Zamri: Disagree.
Hamidi: Because it is in the form of donations, that’s why it was given via cheques. Secondly it was deposited into a trustee account, that’s why it’s a donation. Do you agree or not?
Mohd Zamri: Disagree.
Hamidi went on to suggest that it would be “careless” to use techniques such as depositing cheques into a trustee account to cover up bribery, saying that no recipient of bribes who are “clever” would use such a technique, further suggesting that this was why it was impossible for the RM13.25 million cheques to be bribes.
But the witness continued to disagree, including to the suggestion that Lewis and Co is a trustee of Yayasan Akalbudi which is Zahid-owned.
Under questioning by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Afif Ali, Mohd Zamri said that the Lewis & Co client account in this case meant that funds were given by Zahid to the law firm and that the law firm cannot do anything with the funds without receiving instructions from Zahid.
Asked to explain why he disagreed with the idea that bribery would not occur through bank deposits, Mohd Zamri who has been with MACC since 2011 replied: “I did not agree with the defence counsel, because based on investigations, my experience There are also bribery cases that occur through transfers into accounts, there are also those that happened through cash and there are those that happened through deposits into bank accounts.”
He also confirmed that no receipts were issued to state that the RM13.25 million cheques were “donations”.
When another deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi asked, Mohd Zamri confirmed he had carried out investigations on the financial status of the three companies Jogabonito, Mastoro Kenny and Berani & Jujur Trading after the cheques were issued and banked in.
“Based on my investigations on the finances of Berani & Jujur, Mastoro Kenny and Jogabonito. About Berani & Jujur, it was found this company does not have a company, does not have workers, was registered at an apartment address, but the value of money going in and out of the account is too active with quite big sums.
“If it is referred to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, it is involved in agriculture business, and based on the witness who said it is selling textile, but based on the checks on finances, the influx and outflow of money is too active,” the MACC officer said.
Asked if the stated business activities were actually carried out by Berani & Jujur, Mohd Zamri replied: “Investigations show that the textile selling does not exist, the raid of the premises shows there is no business carried out in that apartment.
Mohd Zamri said that MACC’s investigations also showed that the two other companies Mastoro Kenny and Jogabonito similarly were not carrying out business activities at the apartments that they were registered at.
Malay Mail’s previous checks in October 2018 of the Companies Commission of Malaysia’s records on the three companies showed that they were registered at three different units at three different apartments in Kuala Lumpur.
In this trial, Zahid ― who is a former deputy prime minister and currently the Umno president ― is facing 47 charges, namely 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges.
The trial before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.
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