KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 28): The prosecution has sought a postponement in their appeal against the acquittal of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the foreign visa (VLN) system bribery case.
This is so that newly appointed Attorney General (AG) Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar can be conclusively briefed on all facts of the case.
It is understood that Dusuki, who took over from Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh (who was appointed to the Federal Court) slightly over two weeks ago, was not part of this case previously.
Hence, he was not involved in the decision-making process regarding the series of representations sent to persuade the AG to drop the prosecution’s appeal in the case.
The court was informed of this during case management on Thursday, and has yet to give a decision on whether the adjournment will be granted.
The appeal is slated to be heard on Dec 12. The previous September date was vacated due to Zahid’s visit to China on official duty.
At that juncture, parties were then informed of Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim’s instruction that that no further adjournments would be granted for the appeal after this.
The Court of Appeal (COA) had already given parties an earful in March for taking up the court’s time when Zahid’s lawyers requested for an adjournment to afford the AG more time to study a new set of representations sent a month before.
This appeal is with regard to the Shah Alam High Court’s September 2022 decision to acquit the Umno president of 40 counts of graft with regard to the VLN case, without calling his defence.
Ahmad Zahid was charged with 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM44 million) from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) during his tenure as home minister, in order to extend the company’s contract to continue operating the one-stop centre in China and the VLN.
The alleged graft was also to ensure that the contract agreement for the supply of the VLN integrated system by the company was maintained.
He was also slapped with seven additional charges for allegedly procuring for himself S$1.15 million, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs, and US$15,000 in his capacity as home minister.
Zahid served as home minister from 2013 till 2018.
He had already been granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in August last year, with regard to 47 counts of criminal breach of trust, graft, and money laundering of Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
In that case, presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah had handed down a DNAA to the Umno president — as opposed to the defence’s request for a full acquittal — meaning that Zahid can still be charged with the same charges in future.
The court made such a decision after the prosecution conveyed their intention to discontinue and drop all 47 charges against Zahid, even though his defence had been called.
It has to be noted that Dusuki was the one who led the prosecution at that juncture.
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