Eight of the 45 charges brought against Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today, involve receiving gratification totalling RM21.25 million when he was home minister.

The charges, brought by the MACC, involve three separate cases.

According to charge sheets, the first case involves Zahid helping Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services secure a MyEG project.

For this, Zahid received a total of 24 cheques worth RM13.25 million from between July 15, 2016, and Feb 8, 2017.

It is unclear what the MyEG project Mastoro Kenny was allegedly bribing Zahid for.

In the second case, Zahid is accused of receiving two cheques worth RM6 million from Datasonic Group Bhd's Chew Ben Ben on April 26, 2017.

Chew is currently the managing director for Datasonic and a substantial shareholder, with a 14.18 percent stake in the group.

Datasonic had in December 2015 secured a RM318.75 million government contract to supply 12.5 million passport chips from December 2016 until end of November 2021.

The group in April this year bagged another RM270.71 million contract from the Home Ministry to supply 9.96 million polycarbonate biodata pages to the Immigration Department.

Group non-executive chairperson Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali (photo, right) had donated RM1 million to Tabung Harapan Malaysia during a Home Ministry Hari Raya Aidilfitri function in July.

As for Zahid's third case involving gratifications, he is accused of receiving three cheques worth RM2 million from Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd director Azlan Shah Jafril between Aug 3, 2017, and March 15 this year.

According to the MACC, Profound Radiance runs one-stop visa centres in Nepal and Pakistan. These centres process migrant visa applications for those seeking employment in Malaysia.

Profound Radiance is one of three companies said to have been appointed by the Home Ministry, while Zahid was helming it, to run one-stop centres.

Malaysiakini, in collaboration the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) Nepal, had previously reported on one of the other companies appointed, Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd.

Read more: Nepali workers' scam: The whos and hows behind it

The network is alleged to have been involved in the illegal collection of some RM185 million from over 600,000 people between September 2013 and April 2018.

Zahid had denied involvement in the scheme.

The gratifications are offences under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act and can be punished under Section 24(1) of the same Act.

Section 24(1) of MACC Act carries a prison sentence not exceeding 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the gratification.

Besides the gratifications, Zahid was also slapped with 10 charges for criminal breach of trust involving RM20.79 million from Yayasan Akal Budi and 27 charges for money laundering of RM71.97 million.

The criminal breach of trust is punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of between two and 20 years, whipping, and a fine.

With the exception of those convicted of rape, men aged 50 and above are exempted from whipping. Zahid is 65 this year.

The money-laundering charges, meanwhile, are under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla), whereby those convicted can be jailed for up to 15 years.

They are also liable to a fine of not less than five times the value of proceeds gained from the money laundering, or RM5 million, whichever is higher.

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