Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that funds from welfare foundation Yayasan Akal Budi were used to clear credit card debts, but claimed that this was due to a mistake by his officer.

According to Zahid, the credit card bills were handed to his officer who "mistakenly used funds from Yayasan Akal Budi" to clear the debts – which required the former deputy prime minister to reimburse the fund using his personal money.

"My officer didn't intend to misuse the funds (to clear the credit card debts) but the action was improper.

"I have explained all this to the MACC and handed them the related documents (as evidence).

"I used my personal money to refund money used from the fund in 2016," he explained.

Zahid was speaking to reporters outside the MACC headquarters after an intense seven hours of questioning.

This is the second consecutive day that the Umno president has been subjected to questioning, after spending over nine hours at the commission's headquarters yesterday.

It was initially reported that Zahid was to have his statement recorded over two issues – the alleged abuse of Yayasan Akal Budi funds, and his meeting with a member of the Saudi Royal family regarding a RM2.6 billion donation to former premier Najib Abdul Razak.

However, the MACC only recorded his statements on the latter yesterday.

With regards to Yayasan Akal Budi, it was reported that RM800,000 had been misappropriated from the foundation to pay for credits cards belonging to Zahid and his wife.

At a press conference at the Umno headquarters on Sunday, Zahid said he and his family had established the foundation for Islamic-related activities, such as building mosques and tahfiz schools, as well as coordinating donations.

After Zahid emerged from the MACC headquarters at 5.15pm today, he said that he hoped his clarification would clear "negative perceptions." 

“I hope this explanation can clear the very negative perceptions against me, especially after I won the Umno presidency (on Saturday),” he said.

When asked about Najib’s arrest, he said he was unaware of the news, but stressed that he respects the rule of law.

"I did not know Najib was arrested, I was inside. I respect the rule of law, I am confident it was done to clear the case... to clear the perception of the public.

"Now the court of public opinion has played an important role in creating the negative perception (towards Najib)."