KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his wife Datin Seri Hamidah Khamis had a list of 20 cars and motorcycles linked to them, including 19 registered in their names, the High Court heard today.
Testifying for the prosecution in the former deputy prime minister’s corruption trial, Road Transport Department (RTD) senior officer Zaharudin Zainuddin revealed an extensive record of several luxury brands and models ranging from Toyota Vellfire to Harley-Davidson and one Mercedes-Benz.
He also disclosed that almost all of the vehicles listed today bore the plate number “38” and were mostly registered in Zahid’s name.
Motorcycles: Who owned what
According to the list read out by Zaharudin, nine of the vehicles are motorcycles, with seven registered under Zahid’s name.
Of these, two were Harley-Davidson (with vehicle registration plates JLC 38 and G1M 38); three were BMW models: BMW R 1200 GS (JHD 38), BMW R 1200 RT (AFU 38), BMW C 600 Sport (SAS 38); a Ducati Diavel Carbon (QMR 38); and a Honda C100 (WVH 4851).
Hamidah had two registered in her name: a Ducati Hypermotard 796 (with vehicle registration plate BEA 38) and a Kawasaki KLX 250 V (WEX 38).
Cars: Who owned what
When it came to the four-wheeled vehicles, Zaharudin said ownership was again mostly in Zahid’s name.
Two of them were Toyota Vellfire models (with car plate number BEN 38, KDN 38); one Audi Q7 S luxury sports utility vehicle (QC 38); one BMW 320i (MBD 38); one Chrysler Jeep Wrangler (J 38); one Honda Odyssey (BAM 38); one Lexus URJ201R SUV model (SAB 38 M); and another Lexus LX 460 model (TAF 38).
According to RTD's records, an undisclosed vehicle was previously registered under TAF 38 before getting a new number of W767 R in May 2015, with the Lexus LX 460 being the model currently under TAF 38.
Hamidah’s ownership was for: a Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 (car plate number QMM 38), as well as another Toyota Vellfire vehicle (DH 38).
Prior to the Vellfire taking on the DH38, the number was registered to another undisclosed vehicle that later took on the new number of DCB 38 in October 2015, RTD records show.
Zaharudin said the RTD records show a Toyota Land Cruiser (SAB 3 A) registered to the name Juhari Janan.
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Road tax
Zaharudin, who is assistant director of the vehicle licensing division in RTD’s Putrajaya headquarters, said he had printed out these vehicle ownership details as requested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
Zaharudin also confirmed the road tax for each of the vehicles, with the highest amounting to RM5,900.80 for the Lexus URJ201R.
The amount for the other car models are as follows, in descending order: Mercedes-Benz (RM4,366.50); and Lexus LX 460 and Toyota Land Cruiser (both RM4,212.80); Audi (RM3,500.80); Chrysler (RM2,920); Toyota Vellfire (RM2,369.60) and Honda (RM724.80); and BMW (RM377.50).
He said the road tax for the motorcycles were RM350 each, except for the BMW C600 Sport (RM250), the Kawasaki model (RM50) and the Honda C100 at RM2.
The total road tax for the 11 cars amounted to RM33,324.80 while the nine motorcycles amounted to RM2,402.
All in, the annual road tax for all 20 vehicles combined totalled RM35,726.80.
Questioned by deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt, Zaharudin confirmed that all 20 vehicles listed were privately-owned, adding that all the information on the vehicles were up to date when they were printed out.
Zaharudin said the road tax for vehicles with an engine capacity of 1,598cc is RM180, and that it is RM1,606.40 for those with an engine capacity of 2,979 cc.
Today is the sixth day of Zahid’s trial. Zaharudin is the 12th prosecution witness.
The prosecution previously said it will prove that Zahid had misappropriated RM31 million from charity organisation Yayasan Akalbudi and that a large part of this had been allegedly used for personal credit card bills and for motor-vehicle insurance policies and road taxes for privately-owned vehicles, instead of for the benefit of the poor.
In this trial, Zahid is facing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust involving millions of funds from Yayasan Akalbudi, as well as bribery and money-laundering in relation to millions of ringgit.
The trial before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow afternoon.
Zahid’s lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh had today requested for the trial to end earlier today, saying that his client had to attend Parliament this afternoon to exercise his duty as Bagan Datuk MP to vote on the Bill for the proposed Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission.
The judge had then decided to allow the request, saying: “The accused be allowed to attend Parliament to exercise his statutory duties.”
* A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.
