Bungalows bought at discount as owner needed the cash, Zahid tells court

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the High Court today that the two bungalow units in Country Heights, Kajang, were bought at a discount of RM5.9 million because the owner, housing developer tycoon Lee Kim Yew, was in urgent need of money.

Zahid, 69, said Lee, who is the founder and chairman of Country Heights Holdings Bhd, offered to sell the bungalows at below the market price because he was having trouble paying his income tax.

"This offer (price) was from Lee Kim Yew, the owner of Country Heights. He desperately needed the money, which was why he sold it below market price.

"He was having trouble paying income tax, that's why the time given to us was very short and the discount price was given to Yayasan Akalbudi," he said when referred by deputy public prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffery Ong to the ledger of the foundation's trustee, Messrs Lewis & Co, which recorded that the law firm deposited RM2 million into a fixed deposit account on Nov 30, 2016, and RM5 million on Dec 9 in the same year.

According to Zahid, Lewis & Co did not wait for the fixed savings account to reach maturity of either six months or a year before withdrawing RM5.9 million because Lee gave a short period of time to make a decision on the purchase of the bungalows.

Zahid, who is the MP for Bagan Datuk, also disagreed with Harris Ong's suggestion that the purchase of the bungalows was not for charity, but to help the owner.

Previously, Lee, who is the 57th prosecution witness, told the court that Zahid's younger brother, Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi, bought the two bungalows through a Lewis & Co cheque.

According to Lee, the cheque was for the payment of a sales settlement for two single-storey bungalows belonging to his company which were sold to Yayasan Al-Falah, where Nasaee is the chairman of the foundation's board of trustees.

Meanwhile, lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, representing Zahid, told the court that the prosecution and defence had agreed to visit the two bungalows on Aug 1, as consented to by judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah yesterday.
 
"I also invite Your Honour to Bagan Datuk to visit the Tuminah Hamidi Mosque, to give a clear picture of the condition of the mosque," said Hisyam.

But Sequerah later said that the condition of the mosque could be shown in court through photos or videos as the journey to Bagan Datuk would take time.

Yesterday, Sequerah acceded to the defence's request to visit the bungalows for the sake of justice in the trial of the case.

On Jan 24, the court ordered Zahid to enter his defence on 47 charges: 12 of CBT, eight of corruption and 27 of money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit of funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

The trial before judge Sequerah continues on Aug 5.