Lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah in his submissions in Zahid’s corruption case that Mazlina Mazlan @ Ramly was “negligent” in using Yayasan Akalbudi’s money to pay Zahid’s credit card debts and car insurance policies.

“She is the culprit and the reason why the accused person (Zahid) is in court today,” he said.

Zahid is on 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.

Hamidi told the court the defence had affirmed that two of the corruption charges against him were “false”.

He said former Datasonic Group Bhd directors Chew Ben Ben and Abu Hanifah Nordin had testified that they never gave RM6 million as a bribe to Zahid.

Zahid was accused of receiving the money as a bribe for a contract to supply microchips for passports.

The contract, said to be through direct negotiation and reportedly worth RM318.75 million, was awarded to Datasonic Technologies in 2016.

The hearing continues on Nov 29.