KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s lawyers had been trying to justify his use of Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds to give out RM10 million to a coal supplying company and RM360,000 to a voter registration firm, but these companies ultimately do not fit within the charity’s aims of eradicating poverty, the prosecution told the High Court today.
Lead prosecutor Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran today said that Ahmad Zahid’s lawyers had tried to cite minor or secondary objectives in Yayasan Akalbudi’s company constitution, but argued that they had ultimately failed as the use of the foundation’s money would still have to meet the main purpose of helping the poor.
“And to do that, My Lord, would result in inevitable failure because the thing is this — the incidental objects appearing in the Articles of Association must be read in line with the main object, which is eradicating poverty and enhancement of the welfare of the poor,” she said. Armada Holdings Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Wasi Khan is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court December 11, 2019. — Picture by Firdaus LatifAhmad Zahid’s lawyers had previously sought to explain their client’s RM10 million payment in December 2015 using Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheque to company Armada Holdings as both a loan and investment for the charitable foundation, as the company had repaid the RM10 million along with interest.
“Giving a loan and to be paid back surplus interest — that is not investment, that is money lending. It does not fall, by any measure, within the ambits of the objects of the foundation,” she said, highlighting that dishonest intention is established once it is shown that a person has used money they were entrusted with outside of the purpose intended.
“The fact it was paid back, the so-called interest — if that is to be translated as a profit to Yayasan Akalbudi — does not work in this sense, My Lord. Because the main thing is that Akalbudi cannot give a loan to a business entity like Armada Holdings, it does not sync with the objects and establishment of Yayasan Akalbudi,” she said.