KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has amassed the most criminal charges among prominent individuals from the Barisan Nasional era, accumulating 33 more today to bring his total to 87 counts.
Zahid was hit yesterday with seven counts of receiving bribes totalling S$4.24 million (RM12.91 million) and was additionally charged today with receiving bribes of S$10.47 million, RM3.13 million, €15,000 and US$15,000 from a company contracted to operate Malaysia’s overseas visa system and a one-stop centre in China while he was home minister.
This means Zahid, who is currently on leave as Umno president, has now overtaken former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman (51 charges) as the BN leader with the most criminal charges at the moment.
Zahid’s previous tally of 47 charges had already outstripped former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 42 charges and the latter’s spouse, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, at 20 charges.
As for the other high-profile individuals charged within Pakatan Harapan’s first year in power, the number of charges against them range from one to 12 counts.
Rosmah has also posted a total of RM3 million in bail.
Zahid posted RM200,000 bail for his new bribery case yesterday and another RM500,000 for the one today, bringing his total to RM2.7 million.
(Bail allows those charged to be released from custody pending the conclusion of their trials and is meant to ensure the accused shows up in court for proceedings. The bail amount is fixed at the court’s discretion.)
His trial involving seven counts of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering in relation to RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds is ongoing and will resume next Monday.
Trial dates have also been fixed for Najib’s other cases in court, stretching from this August until June next year.
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