Lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said a mosque had been built on one of the plots, and a witness from Mohamad Nasaee’s Yayasan Al-Falah had affirmed it in court. Another plot has yet to be utilised.

“The witness (Faisaluddin Mohamat Yusuff), who is a Yayasan Al-Falah trustee, confirmed that the accused (Zahid) paid for the two plots of land using funds from Yayasan Akalbudi.

“The source of the money was donations by two businessmen, Mubarak Hussain Akhtar Husin and Junaith Asharab Md Shariff.

“They said they donated money to Yayasan Akalbudi of their own will,” he told judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Previously, Mubarak told the court that he donated RM2 million to Yayasan Akalbudi in 2016 while Junaith donated RM5 million to the foundation in 2017.

The funds were deposited into law firm Lewis & Co’s account and subsequently placed into fixed deposit accounts.

Zahid is on trial on 47 charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving funds from Yayasan Akalbudi, and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister.

The defence said the prosecution had failed to prove that the funds used to buy the land came from illegal sources.

Hisyam also told the court that testimony from moneychanger Omar Ali Abdullah was contradictory.

“During examination in chief, Omar said the accused (Zahid) instructed him to convert RM7.51 million into 35 pieces of cheques, but took a different stand when we confronted him during cross-examination and he said he converted the cheques on his own,” he said.

The hearing continues tomorrow before Sequerah.

Co-counsel Hamidi Mohd Noh requested for the hearing to resume in the afternoon, saying Zahid has to attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting in the morning.

“MPs are expected to vote on a new deputy speaker in the morning,” he said.

To that, Sequerah said the court would resume at 2.30pm.