Attorney-General Idrus Harun said the prosecution will have to examine the judgment in Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s acquittal from all graft charges related to the Foreign Visa System (VLN) before deciding on an appeal.
“I will discuss with the prosecution team and study the grounds of decision of the learned judge first,” Idrus said, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.
This comes shortly after Shah Alam High Court judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa today ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case and its three key witnesses were unreliable.
The witnesses were former Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun and former UKSB directors Harry Lee Vui Khiun and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani.
“Upon exercise of the maximum evaluation of the evidence in totality, I find that the prosecution has failed to make out a prima facie case on all charges,” Yazid said in his judgment.
Zahid was charged with 33 counts of receiving bribes from UKSB amounting to SG$13.56 million (RM43.6 million) between 2014 and 2017.
Another seven charges accused the Bagan Datuk MP of obtaining SG$1.15 million, RM3.125 million, 15,000 Swiss francs (RM70,000) and US$15,000 (RM68,000) from the same company.
Zahid was accused of receiving bribes to extend UKSB's contract to operate the one-stop centre (OSC) service in China and the VLN system, as well as to maintain its contract with the Home Ministry to supply the VLN integrated system.
The charges were framed under Section 16 (a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009, which provides for a maximum of 20 years in jail and a fine of not less than five times the value of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Zahid is still facing a separate trial for criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering involving Yayasan Akalbudi.
That trial is in the defence stage. - Mkini
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