THE STAR – Former Malaysian deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Major Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly had committed negligence in handling his personal expenses as well as finances involving charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB).
Ahmad Zahid, 69, said among the lapses committed by his former executive secretary was failing to understand and read his credit card statements, causing her to make either insufficient or excessive payments.
“The mistakes Mazlina made included making credit card payments amounting to MYR71,283 instead of MYR65,153.32.
“Besides that, Mazlina also underpaid the credit card bill, paying only MYR2,600 when she should have paid MYR64,668.24,” he said when reading out his witness statement in the High Court yesterday.
It was the third day of his defence proceedings on 47 charges involving breach of trust, corruption and money laundering involving YAB funds.
He said Mazlina had testified in court that she did not know, was unsure and could not remember matters regarding the management of his credit card bills, apart from admitting to being negligent in handling the expenses.
“As a trained and experienced banker, I state that if I knew Mazlina was behaving in this way, I would not have given her permission and stopped her actions immediately,” he said.
To a question by his lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal on what could have caused Mazlina to make the extra payment, Ahmad Zahid said, “This is what I do not understand, why pay more and sometimes pay less, it means she was negligent… I have to pay for other people’s negligence. Where is the justice?”
According to the former deputy prime minister, Mazlina had never shown him the monthly credit card statements although he asked her to do so.
