PUTRAJAYA (May 7): The Court of Appeal (COA) has allowed the Malaysian Bar to challenge a High Court decision to free Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from a corruption case.
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the appellate court said the Bar’s application is not frivolous and raises arguable issues that warrant a full judicial review against the Attorney General's move which granted Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in 2023.
The three-judge panel, led by Datuk Faizah Jamaluddin and flanked by Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng and Datuk Nadzarin Wok Nordin, found the Bar’s application to be appropriate, rare, and exceptional, in remitting the matter to the High Court for hearing.
While the threshold for judicial review for prosecutorial discretion is high, Faizah, in reading out her judgement, said that this is a rare case that warrants judicial review.
Faizah reasoned that the legal challenge brought by the Bar Council is not a collateral attack on the criminal court that presided over the case, but noted that it is a challenge on the legality and rationality of the AG in asking the court for a DNAA.
"Since the criminal court's DNAA order was a procedural consequence to the AG's impugned decision, the appellant (the Malaysian Bar) is not attacking the court's order, [instead], it challenges the executive root of the order, namely the AG's decision to discontinue the prosecution.
"Accordingly, we therefore find the appellant's application for judicial review was not a collateral attack on the criminal court's order.
"We respectfully disagree with the High Court's refusal of leave [as] in our view, the High Court applied an unduly standard at the leave stage, and went too far into matters properly that was reserved for the substantive hearing," Faizah said, in reading the panel's judgement that allowed the Malaysian Bar's appeal on Thursday morning.
The appellate court granted leave for the Bar's application to commence judicial review and ordered the matter to be remitted to the High Court for a full hearing.
However, the AG’s Chambers (AGC) and the government can choose to file an appeal against the COA’s decision at the Federal Court.
The Malaysian Bar had filed for this judicial review against the AGC’s decision to drop 47 criminal charges against Zahid.
The case was withdrawn under then-AG Tan Sri Idrus Harun’s instruction, even after the prosecution had secured a prima facie ruling that requires an accused to defend himself.
At Thursday’s proceedings, lawyers Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Steven Thiru represented the Malaysian Bar, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly acted on behalf of the AG, while lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik represented Zahid.
Zahid was previously granted a DNAA on 47 graft charges in September 2023. Following that ruling, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission conducted further investigations.
Zahid was accused of dishonestly misappropriating RM31 million from his charitable foundation, Yayasan Akalbudi. He faced 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight counts of graft, and 27 counts of money laundering.
In a separate case, Zahid was acquitted of all 40 graft charges related to a foreign visa system contract back in 2022. In December 2024, the prosecution withdrew its appeal against the acquittal.
The trial was well into the Zahid’s defence when the DNAA was granted.