KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi likes to donate to religious causes, but does not like to have his deeds publicised, a school principal told the High Court today.
Azharizan Yaacob, 47, said this while testifying as the 12th defence witness in Zahid’s favour in the latter’s trial involving charges of alleged dishonest misappropriation of charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds.
Azharizan, who was previously principal of Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulul Al-bab in Melaka from 2012 to 2020, claimed he was told by Zahid that the latter had fully funded the construction of the school.
For the secondary school, which has 350 students, Azharizan said Zahid had also sponsored and borne the fully air-conditioned school’s operational costs, saying that Zahid had allocated almost RM30 million for this since the school started running in 2012 and until the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) froze Zahid’s Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds in 2018.
“Almost every month, Datuk Seri Zahid will issue a cheque from Yayasan Akalbudi to Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulul Al-bab with payments in the range of RM170,000 to RM200,000,” he told the High Court.
“Datuk Seri Zahid’s purpose of helping to sponsor that school’s operation costs is because I know Datuk Seri Zahid is someone who really likes to donate to ‘jalan agama’ (religious causes) particularly mosques, suraus and education.
“However, for the entire time that I have known Datuk Seri Zahid, he really dislikes his name being mentioned and for it to be announced that the donation is from him. He had previously said to me, his principle is that ‘when the right hand gives, let the left hand not know’,” he said.
Azharizan, who is now principal of Maahad Tahfiz Al Quran Hamidiyah in Bagan Datuk, Perak, also listed several charitable donations which he said Zahid had made.
Azharizan said Zahid’s donations included an almost RM12 million donation for the construction of Masjid Salmah Khamis in Melaka and said he knew this as both he and Zahid were the signatories of cheques for this mosque; and donations to build Surau Hidayat in Masjid Tanah and to build a hall at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kem Terendak in Alor Gajah and said he had brought villagers to receive cheques from Zahid for the latter two donations.
Azharizan said Zahid’s donations also included sending three teachers from Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulul Al-Bab every year for umrah at a cost of RM7,000 per person since 2014 as a gift for excellence, and spending RM130,000 to sponsor students for six semesters for A-level courses at Help University in preparation for further studies in the United Kingdom.
Azharizan said Zahid had also sponsored 12 teachers from Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulul Al-Bab to study at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), adding that he was one of these 12 teachers.
Azharizan said, however, that he did not complete his sponsored studies for a master’s degree for education management at UPM.
Zahid’s trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes on Thursday.
Zahid, who is also Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman, is facing 47 charges in this trial.
The 47 charges are namely, 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to over RM31 million of Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges of over RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.
The 12 counts of criminal breach of trust is in relation to the alleged misappropriation of Yayasan Akalbudi funds, namely RM1.3 million via 43 cheques for his and his wife’s credit card bills; RM107,509.55 via three cheques for vehicle insurance and road tax for 20 privately-owned vehicles; a RM1.3 million cheque to the police’s football association; a RM10 million cheque for a loan to Armada Holdings Sdn Bhd; RM360,000 via two cheques to political consultancy firm TS Consultancy & Resources; and over RM17.9 million of funds transferred from Yayasan Akalbudi to law firm Lewis & Co.
