KUALA LUMPUR: On the 49th day of his trial, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today claimed trial to an amended money-laundering charge which involved funds from charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.
“I understand that this charge (was amended) to make my sentence heftier. Thank you, I plead not guilty,” he said when the charge was read again to him during trial.
Earlier, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ordered for the charge to be read to Zahid after allowing the prosecution’s application to amend the 27th charge against the former deputy prime minister.
The changes made to the charge was on the amount and value of the cheques.
In the amended version, there were 35 cheques involved worth RM7,511,250.20 while in the original version, the amount of cheques involved were 30 and the value of the cheques were RM6,885,300.20.
According to the amended charge, Zahid was alleged to have committed money-laundering by engaging in direct transactions involving proceeds from illegal activities by instructing one Omar Ali Abdullah to convert for him a cash amount of RM7,511,250.20 into 35 cheques that were later given to Messrs Lewis & Co for the opening of Maybank fixed deposit accounts.
He allegedly committed the offence at Marhaba Enterprise Sdn Bhd, LG 1. 15, Farenheit88, 179 Jalan Bukit Bintang, here, on March 29, 2016 and July 15, 2016.
Zahid, 68, faces 47 charges, 12 of them for criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit of funds from Yayasan Akalbudi.
Earlier, Zahid’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told the court that a police report was lodged in regards with a message allegedly containing the results of a Bersatu Supreme Council meeting, for distribution to the party’s division heads.
The message which was spread via WhatsApp last Thursday, also went viral on social media.
“We would like to inform the court that the defence had lodged a police report (on the matter) to investigate the veracity of the message, “he said.
The trial continues.
On March 6, Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin in a brief statement denied the authenticity of the information regarding the purported contents of the Bersatu Supreme Council meeting, which was spread on WhatsApp and Facebook.
He said the information in the viral message was untrue, false and was not related to any supreme council meeting that had been held.
Following that, he said Bersatu will lodge a police report regarding the spread of the fake news to track down the individuals behind it.- NST