KUALA LUMPUR: A former member of charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s board of trustees told the High Court today that former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had asked him to sign blank cheques.
Mohd Samsuri Tun, 66, said he, however, did not know what the cheques were for.
He said during his tenure as a member of the board of trustees in the foundation, he had signed the cheques in a ‘pre-signed’ manner.
“I was only ordered by Zahid to sign it without being told of the purposes for the cheques,” he said.
Samsuri was the fourth prosecution witness to testify in Zahid’s trial on his 47 criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit of Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds.
He said as a director of the foundation, he was never involved in any activities under Yayasan Akalbudi’s name and had never discussed the activities carried out by the foundation with Zahid.
The witness also testified that during his tenure as a trustee, no meetings were conducted.
“I did not know and was never informed by Zahid on the funds that were obtained to accommodate the cost of activities carried out by Yayasan Akalbudi,” he said during examination in chief by deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt.
He also testified that he did not know that Yayasan Akalbudi possessed millions of ringgit in funds as he did not have access to its bank statements and the foundation had never tabled its annual financial statement.
Samsuri, who was Zahid's college mate, said he did not know about the projects managed by Zahid since the projects were only carried out after 2012, the year he (Samsuri) resigned from his position.
He said this when re-examined by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran on the activities and projects that were executed by Yayasan Akalbudi.
He also said that Zahid, who is the Bagan Datuk Member of Parliament, had used the foundation's funds for the development of the Bagan Datuk parliamentary constituency and for his (Zahid's) own political agenda.
The objective of the establishment of the foundation was to accept and administer funds for the purpose of eradicating poverty.
Trial continues before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah tomorrow.