Former Malaysian Deputy PM charged with money laundering and corruption

Agencies

October 19, 2018

Kuala Lumpur, Oct 19: Malaysia’s former deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was slapped with 45 charges in court on Friday (Oct 19) involving fraud of RM114 million (US$27.4 million).

The charges include 10 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to funds from Yayasan Akal Budi, a welfare foundation that he chairs, and eight counts of corruption involving RM 42 million.

He was also charged with 27 counts of receiving and transferring illicit money under anti-money laundering laws. These charges involved a total of RM 72 million, said a report in Channel News Asia.

The Kuala Lumpur sessions court allowed Zahid to be released on a bail of RM2 million.

The court has ordered Zahid to pay RM 1 million of his bail on Friday and settle the remaining sum by Oct 26. Next hearing is scheduled for Dec 14.

Local media reports said that he is believed to have abused about RM 800,000 of the foundation’s funds to settle his and his wife’s credit card bills.

He has denied wrongdoing, saying the payments were made in error by an aide and that he has since repaid the amount.

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AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid-19 vaccine globally as demand dips after admitting side effects

News Network

May 8,2024

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

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