RM366,000 meant for money changer mysteriously ended up in Zahid's proxy account

KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): Five cheques worth a total of RM366,000 mysteriously made their way into the proxy account of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pictured) in 2016.

T Rajan, who took the stand as a prosecution witness in Zahid’s RM6 million graft trial yesterday, said the cheques were issued by him to his money changer, to be cashed into Australian currency that he was going to use to buy a property for his daughter in Australia. He subsequently received around A$90,000 from the money changer.

When asked if he knew the cheques had been made out to law firm Lewis & Co, Rajan said he had no knowledge of this. He also said the payee's details were left blank in the cheques he gave to the money changer.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffery Ong, who was conducting the examination in-chief, asked him why he issued five cheques instead of just one.

“I broke it up into five separate cheques to avoid the large transaction from being reported by the bank's internal reporting systems,” he said.

Rajan also testified that he had no links to Lewis and Co, the trustee for Yayasan Akalbudi, from whom Zahid is accused of having misappropriated funds. As for Zahid, he only knew that he was the then deputy prime minister.

The High Court also heard today that 21 cheques worth some RM4.56 million, bearing the payee name Lewis & Co, were issued between April 21, 2016 and June 30, 2016.

The cheques were issued by Ekares Sdn Bhd, according to CIMB Menara Binjai branch assistant customer service manager Sharifah Aspaniza Syed Mustapha, who is also testifying in the trial.

Separately, Lewis & Co had received RM2 million from one Mubarak Hussain Akhtar Husin in 2016, according to Maybank Taman Sri Gombak assistant branch manager Azman Mat Nor @ Mohd Nor.

The hearing continues before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah on March 23.

Zahid faces 47 charges of criminal breach of trust involving Yayasan Akalbudi funds, money laundering as well as accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister.

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