RM250,000 alleged bribe by IT consultant firm nothing to do with Zahid, says defence
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A RM250,000 sum from an information technology company, which was credited into a trustee law firm of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s charity foundation, was a loan to the former deputy prime minister’s brother, the court heard today.
Defence lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the cheque from Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services cleared into the account of law firm Lewis & Co, a trustee of Zahid’s charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi on 15 July, 2016, was not connected to Zahid.
The RM250,000 was a loan from businessman Junaith Asharab Md Shariff to Zahid’s younger brother Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi, Teh told the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Zahid’s lawyer had begun defence for the former deputy prime minister’s eight corruption charges.
Besides the graft charges, the Umno president is also facing 12 charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and 27 for money-laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit of funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.
For his 11th charge, Zahid was alleged to corruptly receive the gratification of RM250,000 by Mastoro Kenny through Junaith using Lewis & Co’s Maybank account.
The transaction was alleged to be an inducement for the former home minister to assist Mastoro Kenny in obtaining the government’s MyEG project, which under the purview of the Home Ministry.
Teh brought the evidence of Junaith, who was the trial’s 36th prosecution witness.
“Junaith had specifically said that was a loan to Nasaee, which was a point not submitted by the prosecution.
“Nasaee was also not called by the prosecution,” Teh submitted before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
The defence further argued that the prosecution did not manage to show any link of projects with Mastoro Kenny.
“Prosecution witness 92, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Mohd Zamri Abdul Rashid agreed in cross-examination that MyEG has never awarded any project to Mastoro Kenny,” Teh said.
Previously during the trial, Zamri testified that companies including Mastoro Kenny were merely apartment units with no sign of business activity.
The trial continues tomorrow morning. – September 14, 2021.