Zahid S Trial 10 Banking Officers Testifies On Rm25m Transactions

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Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's trial linked to corruption, money laundering and criminal breach of trust charges resumed today after more than three months with witnesses confirming over RM20 million in cheque transactions were deposited into a bank account belonging to a private law firm
In their testimonies, 10 witnesses confirmed 41 transactions totalling RM25,952,770 were deposited into a bank account belonging to Lewis & Co
They represent witnesses number 44 to 53 on Day 21 of the trial - from CIMB, Maybank, RHB, Hong Leong and Public Bank - in various positions including branch managers, assistant managers, customer service operation manager and executive
Throughout the hearing so far, the defence counsels have consistently suggested that Lewis & Co is a trustee of Yayasan Akal Budi, whereby Zahid is the founder, trustee and sole signatory
The trial also previously heard witness no 39, Maybank Dataran branch manager Leong Siew Kong who confirmed that the Lewis & Co account is a client account
The transactions were deposited into Lewis & Co's account from Cergas Murni Sdn Bhd (three cheque transactions via Maybank amounting to RM1,011,520), HRA Teguh Sdn Bhd (one banker's cheque transaction via CIMB amounting to RM313,000) and Chia Bee Enterprise Sdn Bhd (10 cheque transactions via Maybank amounting to RM10 million)
From Kiosk Solutions Sdn Bhd, there were six banker's cheque transactions via Maybank amounting to RM4.2 million and one cheque amounting to RM600,000; while from MTK Networks Sdn Bhd, there was one banker's cheque transaction via Maybank amounting to RM600,000
There were also transactions to Lewis & Co's account from MyEG Sdn Bhd via 14 demand drafts amounting to RM8.4 million via RHB Bank
Furthermore, there were also deposits from individual accounts comprising one cheque transaction amounting to RM25,940 via Public Bank from Patt Siew Ming, one cheque transaction via Maybank amounting to RM102,300 from K Rajan Gunaretnam, two cheque transactions amounting to RM100,000 via Hong Leong Bank from Mohamed Husein Mohammad Annifah, and a banker's cheque for RM600,000 via Maybank from Chong Chien Ming
Maybank Bandar Utama branch assistant manager Suzaliza Kamari testified that Chong's banker's cheque was issued using a portion of RM1 million credited into his account from My EG's cash cheque
According to Suzalina, Chong had signed the My EG cash cheque along with an individual identified as Wong Thean Soon - both authorised signatories for My EG's account
All of the transactions had taken place between April 2016 and March 2018
The trial today continued before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the prosecution led by Harris Ong Mohd Jeffery Ong and Mohd Haziq Dhiyauddin Razali appeared as Zahid's counsel
During today's proceedings, Haziq suggested that all of the transactions were recorded and detected by the bank, and there are no hidden elements
Therefore, he argued during cross-examination that the transactions were all above board and did not break any laws
All of the witnesses today agreed with Haziq's suggestion, with exception of the 46th witnesses, Maybank Setapak branch assistant manager Yusri Md Kasri who said: "Don't know."However, during re-examination by Harris, nearly all of the witnesses agreed when it was suggested that their response to Haziq was only based on documents shown to them in court
In fact, the 53rd witness, Hong Leong Bank Jalan Sultan Ismail's branch customer service operations manager Wong Shiau Ping said the bank would only follow procedures based on what has been stated by the customer
"We wouldn't know a customer's real intention in making a cheque," said Wong
Zahid, 67, is facing 47 charges, with 12 of them involving criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit of funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi
For the money laundering charges, Zahid is accused of receiving RM65 million from Messrs Lewis & Co, with a majority of the amount used to place a fixed deposit in the law firm's name
Aside from that, RM5.9 million from the amount was also allegedly used to purchase two bungalow units. - Mkini

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