Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Raja Rozela Raja Toran said former trustees Mohd Samsuri Tun, Zulkifli Senteri, Muhammad Nabil Saleh and Khairuddin Tarmizi had testified that they had no knowledge of the foundation’s state of affairs.

“All of them were in the dark on how Yayasan Akalbudi’s money was being spent, and the board of directors’ meeting was never called.

“Under cross-examination by the defence, the four men said they raised no objections to the use of Yayasan Akalbudi money to build mosques and schools.

“How were they supposed to object when they never met at all?” she said in the prosecution’s closing arguments.

Zahid is standing trial on 47 counts of money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister.

Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.

Rozela pointed out that from 1997 to 2012, Zahid, Samsuri and Zulkifli were signatories of Yayasan Akalbudi cheques.

However, after Samsuri and Zulkifli left, the DPP said the right to sign cheques was not given to Nabil and Khairuddin.

“In fact, the accused (Zahid) was made the sole signatory for the Yayasan Akalbudi account,” Rozela added.

The prosecution said Zahid had instructed Samsuri to sign “blank cheques”, which Samsuri obeyed without question, while Zulkifli was told to sign his resignation letter for no reason.

“Samsuri even called the accused his ‘boss’.

“For Khairuddin, he was instructed to sign an SD (statutory declaration) on Yayasan Akalbudi’s cheque payments to settle the accused’s credit card debts even though he knew the contents were not true.

“I don’t know whether this act of ‘blind’ loyalty is commendable. But it was how things worked in Yayasan Akalbudi where the accused called the shots,” Rozela said.

The hearing continues before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah tomorrow.