Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - Malaysia's corruption-tainted deputy prime minister Zahid Hamidi is back on the ropes again - next month, he will be back in court to challenge a move by the Malaysian Bar to quash his controversial discharge from a graft case.
If the Malaysian Bar - an umbrella body for the country's lawyers - succeeds, it will be a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose anti-corruption credentials and political credibility were severely hammered after government prosecutors shocked the nation by deciding to discontinue and drop the Yayasan Akalbudi trial against Zahid - although prima facie evidence had been found and the trial already ongoing for months.
The sudden about-turn by the Attorney General, seen as acting with Anwar's tacit consent, left the High Court with no choice but to grant a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) to Zahid for all the 47 charges he was facing.
"All eyes are now on whether Anwar will intervene again behind the scenes. Because if Zahid goes, then Anwar goes too. Anwar depended on Zahid's support to form the government and become PM and even then there were a lot of whispers of a secret deal to get Zahid off the hook from his corruption charges. This eventually became true, even though the blame was pinned on the outgoing AG Idrus Harun but people are not stupid. It's hard for many to see how Anwar was not consulted, even though he has denied involvement," a pundit told Politics Now!
"There will again be a lot of pressure on the Chief Justice Tengku Maimun, who has worked hard to clean up the judiciary. Let's hope the judiciary will follow her example and just do their roles professionally without trying to bootlick and catch the eye of those in power."
If the Bar wins their case and the charges against Zahid are reinstated, the probability is strong that Zahid, who is also the Umno president, will withdraw his party from Anwar's unity government.
Umno holds 30 of the federal Parliament's 222 seats. While it may not trigger an immediate collapse of Anwar's government, Umno's withdrawal is bound to set in motion a chaotic chain of events, leaving Malaysia in the grip of political crisis once again.
TAKING THE PEOPLE FOR FOOLS
Meanwhile, Zahid’s lawyer Guok Ngek Seong confirmed his client, who recently underwent surgery for prostate cancer, would challenge the Bar's application for a judicial review. The hearing has been fixed for January 11.
“Confirmed. The affidavit will be filed soon together with submissions,” Malay Mail reported Guok as saying.
Earlier this month, Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn said the legal body contended that the scope of the AG's power under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution is not absolute, should be restricted in its scope and limit, exercised in a justiciable manner.
Article 145(3) of the Constitution confers power to the AG to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence.
As such, the Malaysian Bar is seeking a court order to quash the AG’s September 4 decision on Zahid’s application for a DNAA.
She said the Bar also wants the High Court to declare that the AG’s decision is null and void, and that it overstepped its authority under Article 145(3) of the constitution and Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In the reliefs sought, the Bar is seeking a court order for the AG to give the Bar all the information and basis it relied on in deciding to grant the conditional discharge, including the letters of representation Ahmad Zahid submitted to the AG.
It is also seeking an order for the AG to provide the Bar with information on the status of further investigations into Ahmad Zahid’s case, including any decision to file fresh charges, continue the trial or drop the investigations.
The Bar also wants to have access to all court matters and documents related to the case.
In September, trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah when delivering his decision in the High Court said that the prosecution had “given cogent reasons” when it sought the DNAA.
This came after Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar explained that further investigations on Zahid’s case had to be carried out, following the representations from Zahid to the attorney general to ask for all 47 charges to be reviewed.
Zahid faced 47 charges in this case, namely, 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to over RM31 million of his charitable organisation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges of over RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
Politics Now!
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