Lawyer says Zahid “upbeat and positive”.
Former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing 47 charges for criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi, has been again charged in the Sessions Court with 40 counts of having accepted bribes from a company over the overseas visa system.
In the Sessions Court in Shah Alam today, Zahid, 66, pleaded not guilty to 33 counts of having accepted RM42.76 million from a company over the overseas visa system after all the charges were read out to him before Judge Rozilah Salleh.
The Bagan Datuk MP, clad in a black and gold batik shirt and black pants, nodded his head in affirmation and stated his plea after each charge was read out to him, but was allowed to sit down midway through.
The court interpreter took over half an hour to read out all the charges.
Seen in attendance in the public gallery were the Umno president’s party colleagues, among them supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam.
Yesterday, he had pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to seven counts of having accepted bribes totalling SGD4.24 million from a company, also over the overseas visa system, raising to 87 the number of all the charges brought against him – the most faced by an Umno party leader so far.
For 26 of the charges under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act brought against him today, Zahid, who is the UMNO president, is alleged to have received bribes totalling SGD9,320,000 from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd as an inducement for him as a public officer, that is the home minister, for having extended the company’s contract as the operator of the One Stop Centre (OSC) in China and the overseas visa system and allegedly for the home ministry to retain the contract to supply the integrated visa system to the same company.
He is alleged to have committed all the offences at Country Heights, Kajang, between October 2014 and July 2017.
The charges, under Section 16 (a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same Act, carry a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of RM10,000 or five times the amount of the bribe, whichever is higher, if convicted.
On the remaining seven charges, Zahid, as a public officer, that is home minister, is alleged to have obtained for himself cash of SG150,000, RM325,000, EURO15,000 and USD15,000 without consideration from the same company which he knew had a connection with his official function.
The offences, under Section 165 of the Penal Code, were allegedly committed at the same place between June 2015 and April 2017.
Zahid faces imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine, or both, if found guilty of these offences.
Zahid was represented by Kitson Foong, Hamidi Mohd Noh, Rosal Azimin and Mohd Shahril Madisa.
Mohd Mukhzany Fariz Mohd Mokhtar and Zander Lim Wai Keong prosecuted.
Mukhzany proposed RM1-million bail in one surety, as the amount of money involved in the case was huge and also informed the court that Zahid’s passport had been impounded by the court earlier.
Foong objected to the amount and sought a reasonable sum.
“The prosecution will apply to merge this case with my client’s corruption case in Kuala Lumpur, so the bail amount should be considered.
“Therefore, we propose bail of RM500,000, which is a sufficient bail amount for 33 charges. It is also a fair, reasonable and adequate amount to secure the attendance of the accused in court,” said Foong.
Rozilah allowed Zahid to be released on a bail of RM500,000 in one Malaysian surety and set July 29 for mention.
Zahid arrived at the court at 8.35 am and was accompanied by his daughter Datuk Nurul Hidayah and her husband, Datuk Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff.
On Oct 19 and Dec 14, 2018, as well as Feb 20 this year, Zahid pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here to a total of 47 charges, 12 of which were for criminal breach of trust, eight for bribery and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.
The cases were transferred to the High Court which set Nov 18 to 22, Dec 2 to 6 and Dec 9 to 13 for the hearing.
Zahid remains “upbeat and positive” despite being slapped with fresh charges, said Foong.
Foong said the defence is confident of getting Zahid acquitted of the 40 criminal charges.
“We fully believe that the rule of law and the criminal justice system in Malaysia will allow our client to vindicate himself fully.
“Under the circumstances, if anybody was facing 87 charges, he would be quite stressed out. I must say, he (Zahid) is upbeat and positive. I would like to think that we are not anywhere near being convicted. We are in preparatory mode.
“Zahid has always been a very strong character, and I think we are seeing that. He is standing strong.
“We will make available the best defence to him,” he told reporters.
Foong said he expects a joint trial for the 33 charges today and the seven yesterday, as they are all related to Ultra Kinrara, a company that operated the foreign visa system.
“The Ultra Kinrara case will involve many documents and many witnesses. Some documents, which must be provided under Section 51A (of the Evidence Act), must, in fact, be declassified.”
Foong said the defence is not seeking to jointly try all of Zahid’s 87 charges.
“I think 47 plus 40 in front of one judge, ‘peninglah dia’ (will give him a headache). I think we should keep this one (Ultra Kinrara case) separate, simply because the poor judge would not be able to appreciate all the evidence.”
He said the 40 charges listed only predicate or primary offences that allegedly caused unlawful activities, and did not involve the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
“There were no charges involving bank account numbers.”
Zahid, who has been on leave from his Umno duties since last December, did not speak to the media today.
Foong said there will be no press conferences called, and “no online posts” either.
“Whatever he has to say, he will say it in court.”
With 87 charges against him, Zahid has amassed the most criminal charges among prominent individuals from the Barisan Nasional (BN) era.
This means he has now overtaken former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman (51 charges) as the BN leader with the most criminal charges at the moment.
Zahid’s previous tally of 47 charges had already outstripped former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 42 charges and the latter’s spouse, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, at 20 charges.
As for the other high-profile individuals charged within Pakatan Harapan’s first year in power, the number of charges against them ranges from one to 12 counts.
For now, however, Najib still leads in terms of the bail amount posted, having put up a total of RM6 million so far for all his cases.
Rosmah has also posted a total of RM3 million in bail.
Zahid posted RM200,000 bail for his new bribery case yesterday and another RM500,000 for the one today, bringing his total to RM2.7 million.
Among the prominent individuals charged, only one of Najib’s cases has gone for trial.
His trial involving seven counts of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering in relation to RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds is ongoing and will resume next Monday.
Trial dates have also been fixed for Najib’s other cases in court, stretching from this August until June next year.
Also lined up for trial this year are Umno treasurer Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (July, September), former Felda chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad (October), and Zahid in November and December for the previous 47 charges slapped on him.
Rosmah’s cases are scheduled to go on trial next year, starting from next February and May.
Earlier report: Jun 26, Zahid Slapped with Another Seven Charges