Ex-secretary: ‘Not confusing’ to repay Zahid with Yayasan Akalbudi’s money for donations using his credit card

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — It is not “confusing” to use Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s personal credit card to buy items for charitable donations first and then repay him using his charitable organisation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, his former secretary told the High Court today.

Datuk Rosiah Osman, 71, said this while testifying as Zahid’s seventh defence witness in the latter’s criminal breach of trust trial over Yayasan Akalbudi’s RM31 million.

Rosiah, who had worked as Zahid’s executive secretary for about 18 years until 2011, said she would use cheques from Zahid’s personal bank accounts for his personal expenses and cheques from Yayasan Akalbudi’s account — where Zahid is a signatory — for donations.

Rosiah however said there were times when Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques were used to pay for Zahid’s credit card spending, saying that this was when Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques could not be used to make purchases for items to be donated to mosques.

“Datuk Zahid used the credit card to pay for items to be donated, then we pay Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques into that credit card,” she told deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.

Agreeing that this meant that Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques were not used to pay directly for the donated objects, Rosiah further said: “Because when want to buy items, can’t use Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques to pay, cannot use cheques directly to buy items. So we use credit card first, after using credit card, we use Yayasan to pay the credit card, Yang Arif.”

“Items for example, mosques applying for carpet to be bought as donation, so buy using credit card, we cannot buy using cheque. So buy using Datuk Seri’s credit card, then we pay that credit card using Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheque,” she said, adding that “not all” of Yayasan Akalbudi’s donations were done through Zahid’s credit card and that this was only done in certain situations.

Rosiah said she does not remember how many times Zahid’s credit card was used for donations before reimbursement by Yayasan Akalbudi, but said it was not that many times (“tak berapa banyak sangat lah”).

Dusuki suggested that using Zahid’s credit card first before reimbursing with Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds “could cause confusion”, but Rosiah said: “No, not confusing.”

Witness Datuk Rosiah Osman is pictured the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex, in Kuala Lumpur August 3, 2023. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Earlier when asked by Zahid’s lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal, Rosiah said Zahid had “never” given her orders to use Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques to pay for his credit card bills and that he had never ordered her to use Yayasan Akalbudi funds to pay for his personal vehicles’ insurance and road tax.

Rosiah said she would use Zahid’s personal Maybank account to pay for his and his wife’s credit card bills as well as expenses for his personal vehicles, again saying that Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheques are used to pay for donations such as those requested by mosques.

Earlier when asked by Zahid’s lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh, Rosiah said Zahid’s personal bank account always had enough funds available to pay for his credit card statements, during the years she was his secretary.

As for instances of underpaying or overpaying of Zahid’s credit cards bills during the time when Major Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly had replaced her as secretary, Rosiah told Hamidi that she herself was never ordered to underpay credit card bills and said she would not have made similar mistakes if she was the one handling the payments.

Rosiah said Zahid never gave her instructions to say that she could use a stamp of his signature on cheques if he goes overseas.

Later, Rosiah agreed with Dusuki’s suggestion that she herself has made some slight mistakes in handling Zahid’s matter such as paying for phone or electricity bills during the 18 years of service as his secretary, but disagreed that she had made mistakes in scheduling Zahid’s appointments.

Rosiah said her secretarial studies was at Universiti Teknologi Mara in the 1970s and that she had known Zahid since the 1970s, adding that she worked abroad with her last posting at Dubai, before she returned to Malaysia and became Zahid’s secretary in public listed firm Kretam Holdings Berhad in 1994.

Having subsequently followed Zahid as his secretary when he was serving in various ministries up until her mandatory retirement in 2011, Rosiah confirmed to Dusuki that it can be said she had a close relationship with Zahid based on how long they have known each other.

Rosiah said she knew Zahid previously held shares in Kretam Holdings Berhad, Tekala Corporation Berhad, Ramatex Berhad and Seng Hup Berhad, and claimed to know that he had sold shares in Kretam and Tekala with money from such sales going into Yayasan Akalbudi. She said she does not know if Zahid sold his shares in the other two companies.

Hamidi said the defence may apply to recall its first witness, Zahid, since it has only recently managed to obtain Yayasan Akalbudi’s statement of accounts from July 2001 to December 2018.

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 charitable foundation 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.

Yayasan Akalbudi was founded with the purported objectives of receiving and administering funds for the eradication of poverty and enhancing the welfare of the poor.

Zahid’s trial before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon, with Dusuki expected to continue cross-examining Rosiah.