Siti Nurhaliza's husband Datuk K says ‘generous’ Zahid gave RM10m via Yayasan Akalbudi to friend's firm to invest

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa, the husband to singer Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, told the High Court today that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had provided RM10 million to his friend's company Armada Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2015 as an investment.

Khalid, better known by the moniker Datuk K, was testifying as the eighth defence witness for Zahid in the latter's trial involving 47 charges.

The 64-year-old businessman was allowed by the judge to wear tinted glasses in the courtroom on medical grounds. He said he had undergone eye surgery and the dark glasses were to prevent dry eyes from the air-conditioner and from light.

Khalid said he had first got to know Zahid while working as a manager in the loan division of a Bumiputera bank now known as CIMB.

He had known Zahid for nearly 30 years and that their long length of acquaintance resulted in him being close with Zahid and knowing the latter's character.

“Among his character which I know is that he is someone who is generous, a philanthropist and likes to help when someone needs help,” he testified.

Khalid said both of them had a common interest in motorcycles and had participated in several convoys involving high-powered motorcycles, including touring in several states in peninsular Malaysia and also in Cape Town, South Africa.

Khalid said he and his wife had also gone on umrah together with Zahid and the latter's wife Datin Seri Hamidah Khamis on several occasions, and usually during the last 10 nights of the Ramadan month.

Khalid then testified about how Zahid's charitable organisation Yayasan Akalbudi ended up giving a RM10 million cheque in 2015 to Khalid's friend and business partner Datuk Wasi Khan @ Wasiyu Zama Israr's company Armada Holdings, in order to have sufficient start-up capital to bid for a contract to supply coal from Indonesia to a subsidiary of energy producer Tenaga Nasional Berhad called TNB Fuel Services Sdn Bhd.

Asked by Zahid's lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh to confirm that the RM10 million from Yayasan Akalbudi to Armada being a form of investment since there was a “return” on the purported investment, Khalid said that this was a form of investment as the company had returned the money to ensure that Yayasan Akalbudi did not suffer losses.

“Secondly, we applied from Datuk Seri Zahid for help to reduce the paid up capital from RM10 million to RM5 million, but Datuk Seri Zahid is kind enough to give an advance to the company RM10 million instead of RM5 million, and that is an investment from Yayasan Akalbudi,” Khalid said.

Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court August 21, 2023. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

When Hamidi suggested this was consistent with his testimony that Zahid likes to help people in need of aid, Khalid said this was his experience as long as he had known the accused.

According to Khalid, he and Wasi had gone to meet Zahid to ask for his help to intervene by asking TNB to reduce the paid-up capital requirement for Armada Holdings from RM10 million to RM5 million, but that Zahid had declined by saying it was beyond his powers and that it would be a wrongdoing if he interfered with TNB’s dealings and policies.

Khalid said he then told Zahid about Wasi’s credibility, background and involvement in business, saying that this was because Wasi was someone that Zahid had just got to know and that the latter did not know Wasi’s full background.

“And it is my duty to convince Datuk Seri Zahid that Datuk Wasi is someone who is credible, capable to carry out tasks and can be helped. I gave the guarantee that Datuk Wasi is someone who can be helped,” Khalid said, adding that Zahid trusts him as he would not simply bring individuals to meet him unless he is confident about their trustworthiness.

Khalid said the RM10 million was a figure that Zahid had himself offered and proposed to give “willingly without being asked” at the end of the discussion, saying that he and Wasi did not go to the meeting with the intention of getting or borrowing money from Zahid.

Khalid said he had first got to know Zahid’s wife Hamidi when she was a customer of the Taman Melawati bank branch where he worked at previously and that he had helped her with her banking matters, and that their children studied at the same school and that he and his child had been invited over to Zahid’s house for events.

Khalid however declined to say that he is very close to Zahid but described himself as a friend who knows the politician well, saying that he was initially not close but got to know Zahid since the time when the latter was chairman of Bank Simpanan Nasional and Umno youth chief.

As for Wasi, Khalid said they were both Kedah and that he knew the businessman — who was then a student — when he was working at a bank branch in Jitra in the state, and they later met in Kuala Lumpur in 2000, and that he knew Zahid better than Wasi at that time.

Khalid said he considered Wasi to be a close friend and his “adik” or younger brother who asks for advice and guidance, adding that he met Wasi more often as the latter lived nearby and that he could call or drop by to meet him.

In contrast, Khalid said he does meet Zahid but less frequently, as the latter lives further away and there would be protocol and the need to make appointments.

Khalid said he considers Zahid to be his “abang” or elder brother, saying that he ate and broke fast together with Zahid in Mecca and that the latter had many times said he considers them to be friends.

“I don’t view Datuk Seri Zahid as DPM for me to be close with him. I don’t look at his position, because I knew him not as DPM, I knew him when he was bank chairman, when he was in Umno Youth,” he said.

Wasi Khan was the 21st prosecution witness in this trial.

In his testimony previously, Wasi Khan said he had received a RM10 million cheque from Yayasan Akalbudi during an 2015 meeting with Zahid in Parliament, but there was no letter of agreement for the loan between them as it was based on trust.

He had said Zahid had offered the short-term loan to Armada Holdings based on his friendship with Khalid and due to the company’s potential.

Wasi Khan had said that Armada Holdings had issued two February 12, 2016 cheques for the sum of RM10 million and for a 4 per cent interest amounting to RM69,722.65, but had also said there was no "black-and-white" letter signed between Armada Holdings and Yayasan Akalbudi for the repayment of the "loan" of RM10 million.

Khalid also said his name was not included in Armada Holdings, but that he did apply to become a signatory for the company’s cheques to ensure that the RM10 million “investment” by Zahid via Yayasan Akalbudi could be returned safely along with interest and to ensure that Zahid’s withdrawal of the funds from Yayasan Akalbudi’s fixed deposits would not result in losses.

Disagreeing with the prosecution’s suggestion that the sum of over RM69,000 was an “interest” for the RM10 million “loan”, Khalid disagreed as he insisted it was money paid to cover the “opportunity loss” that Yayasan Akalbudi would have experienced by not investing the RM10 million in fixed deposits and by investing it in Armada Holdings.

Khalid also insisted that the RM10 million should be treated as an investment instead of a loan, by claiming that Yayasan Akalbudi itself or its proxy could become a shareholder in Armada Holdings if the tender bid succeeded, but said there was no need to include the foundation then when it was still bidding for the TNB project.

Khalid said Armada Holdings had returned the RM10 million sum after about two months of receiving it from Yayasan Akalbudi, as the company failed in its bid for the TNB tender and no longer had use for the money.

Khalid said it was after the failed tender bid that his son Muhammad Aazief Khalid became a director in Armada Holdings and following plans to use the company for other purposes.

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.