Prosecution, defence get more time to check records in Zahid’s case

 

On Sept 23, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was acquitted of 40 corruption charges brought against him in connection with the foreign visa (VLN) system without his defence being called.

PUTRAJAYA: The prosecution’s appeal against Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s acquittal from 40 corruption charges in the foreign visa (VLN) system case has been fixed by the Court of Appeal for further case management on Feb 17.

This is to allow parties additional time to ensure the voluminous appeal records are in order before the matter comes up for hearing.

Lawyer Aiman Abdul Rahman, a member of the legal team appearing for Zahid, said deputy registrar Khairi Haron gave both the prosecution and defence teams an additional five weeks to conduct the verification exercise.

“The appeal records run into 49 volumes and the court wants us to ensure everything is in order before a hearing is fixed,” he told FMT after case management earlier today.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob represented the prosecution while lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh appeared for Zahid, who is now deputy prime minister and Umno president.

The Shah Alam High Court provided the appeal records to both parties on Dec 22.

On Dec 29 last year, the prosecution filed its petition of appeal listing 15 grounds why the trial judge’s decision to acquit Zahid ought to be overturned.

The prosecution said Justice Yazid Mustafa who presided over Zahid’s case misdirected himself by comparing the facts of the case to those of another case.

Prosecutors claim Yazid erred when comparing the facts to those in Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial, adding that the fact scenario alone does not make Rosmah’s case a binding precedent.

Yazid, they said, was also wrong in his assessment of the credibility of the prosecution’s three key witnesses – former Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) directors Harry Lee, Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani and David Tan.

They also said the judge failed to take into consideration a witness’ testimony that a ledger presented as evidence in court was a “contemporaneous document”.

They further contended that Yazid erred when deciding that the source of the money used by UKSB to pay Zahid needed to be explained and proven, saying that the law contained no such stipulation.

On Sept 23, Yazid ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against Zahid.

Zahid, 70, had been accused of 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from UKSB between 2014 and 2018 while he was home minister and deputy prime minister when Barisan Nasional was in power.

He was also charged with seven other counts of obtaining for himself the sums of S$1.15 million, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs and US$15,000 from the same company in connection with his official duties. - FMT