PUTRAJAYA (Feb 17): Lawyers for Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have sent a letter of representation to the Attorney General’s Chambers with regard to the prosecution’s appeal over the foreign visa system (“visa luar negara” in Malay, or VLN in short) case, wherein he was acquitted of 40 graft charges.
Sources told The Edge that the likely purpose of the representation letter is to persuade Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Idrus Harun to drop the appeal.
A case management over this had been held on Friday (Feb 17) before Court of Appeal registrar Mohd Khairi Haron.
Khairi is understood to have fixed March 31 for further case management over the outcome of the letter of representation.
A letter of representation is normally sent by lawyers to either ask for a reduction or a withdrawal of the charge, which in Ahmad Zahid’s case, would possibly be a withdrawal of the appeal.
Last Sept 23, Shah Alam High Court judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa acquitted and discharged Ahmad Zahid of all 33 charges under Section 16 (A)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC Act), and seven charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code.
Yazid, in ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case, questioned the size of the brown envelope that UKSB directors Harry Lee Vui Khiun and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani, as well as former administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun used in delivering foreign currencies, mainly Singapore dollars, to Zahid.
Yazid further said that their evidence for the delivery of cash monies was not corroborated, as there were no CCTV recordings or pictures tendered, unlike in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s corruption case, in which independent witnesses testified on the delivery of millions of cash in bags.
The judge also ruled that the trio were not credible, trustworthy or believable, and were not reliable witnesses.
He further said that Lee, Wan Quoris and Tan could have benefitted themselves from the said monies, as the court noticed the three of them led lavish lifestyles, as all three owned a Pavilion condo each.
The High Court also raised questions over the notation remarks in Tan’s ledger, as it noticed that some of them did not have a notation of the delivery being made.
Following the acquittal, the prosecution filed the notice of appeal to appeal over Yazid’s decision, resulting in the matter pending at the Court of Appeal.
Besides this, Ahmad Zahid had already been ordered by another High Court to enter his defence over 47 counts of criminal breach of trust, graft and money laundering with regard to the Yayasan Akalbudi case.