19 October 2018

UMNO president and former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was charged in court with criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering. He claimed trial to 45 counts of corruption and money-laundering relating to the misappropriation of some US$27 million, some of which came from his family-run charity Yayasan Akal Budi, of which he is the chairman. He became the party president earlier this year after Najib stepped down due to the party’s poor performance in the elections.

He pleaded not guilty to charges including charges made in his capacity as the former home minister under the Barisan Nasional administration.

Datasonic and MyEG are also implicated in charges against Zahid Hamidi. Zahid as home minister received a $1.2 million cheque and another cheque for $240,000 from a Data Sonic Group Bhd director for the company to supply 12.5 million chips for Malaysian passports.

He also received $3.2 million to help various companies secure MyEG projects. Malaysiakini reported.

The judge ordered him to surrender his passport to the court and set December 14 for the mention of his case. Yahoo news reported.

His wife, Datin Seri Hamidah Khamis, claimed that the charges were act of vengeance against her husband and also aimed at breaking the spirit of UMNO members and erase the party from the pages of Malaysian history, Utusan Malaysia reported.

One of the charges relates to use of $200,000 belonging to his family run charity, Yayasan Akal Budi, to pay for his and his wife’s credit card bills between 2014 and 2015. He claimed that this was due to an error by an aide and that he has settled the bills himself.

When the top leader is corrupt, you can expect all down the line also to be corrupt. He was also the home minister who controlled the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission until the May general election. That is probably why they could carry on their corrupt activities without let or hindrance.

 

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