Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he founded Yayasan Akalbudi in 1997 for the sake of charity and religion as at the time he was using about three-quarters of his monthly corporate salary of RM120,000 for such purposes anyway.
He said this in his witness statement today in the court hearing of his 47 charges involving criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
“At the time (when still in the corporate world), I was earning a salary of about RM120,000 a month and I only used about RM30,000 to RM40,000 for my own use and my family. The rest I used for charity, wakaf, infaq and other charity work for religious and welfare purposes.
“On the basis of doing charity work and religious purposes, I formed a foundation named Yayasan Budi in 1997 (the name was later changed to Yayasan Akalbudi),” Zahid said.
