Court allows interim return of Zahid's passport

The Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s application for the permanent return of his passport to enable him to perform his duties.

However, judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed the temporary return of the rural and regional development minister’s passport to enable the latter to apply for a diplomatic passport.

Heads of state rely on diplomatic passports to travel overseas and perform official visits to other countries.

Sequerah is the trial judge in the ongoing Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case against Bagan Datuk MP Zahid (above), whereby the latter previously surrendered his passport to the court as part of conditions to be released on bail.

As the accused looked on from the dock, Sequerah ruled that Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution states that all persons are equal before the law.

The judge said the legal precedence set by the 2009 Federal Court case of R Sivarasa versus the Malaysian Bar states that equality before the law means there are no privileges and that nobody is above the law.

Sequerah said the law must operate alike on all persons, and that applying this means that therefore, there is no distinction between one accused and another in relation to an ongoing criminal case.

“While the court takes cognisance of that as the deputy prime minister, the accused has an official duty to perform, but this must not clash with the duty of the courts.

“There can be the release of his passport for discharging his official duty overseas as and when necessary but this must not clash with the duty of the court to hear trials.

“There is also a request by the prosecution that the accused can have his (Zahid’s) passport returned for the application of a diplomatic passport, and then the passport is to be returned back to the court.

“The application for the permanent release is dismissed. However, the application is granted for the release of the passport to allow for the application of a diplomatic passport,” Sequerah said.

Following today’s ruling, the court would temporarily release Zahid’s passport so that he can apply for his diplomatic passport for overseas functions, and that the (non-diplomatic) passport would then be returned to the court while the accused holds on to the diplomatic passport.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob appeared for the prosecution, while the defence was conducted by lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.

Difficult to perform official duties

On Jan 26, Bernama reported that Umno president Zahid had filed the application to have his passport returned permanently to him to enable him to carry out his official duties as deputy prime minister.

The passport was previously surrendered to the court as part of bail conditions after he was charged with 47 counts of graft, criminal breach of trust (CBT), and money laundering involving millions of Yayasan Akalbudi funds.

The trial is now in the defence stage, following the court ordering him to enter his defence.

Through an affidavit in support of the application, Zahid, 70, said the application was done in good faith, and only aimed at applying for permission to issue a passport so that he could perform his official duties smoothly.

Zahid claimed he has some constraints to carry out his duties like other ministers because he does not have access to his passport.

To enable smooth movement in his official capacity as the deputy prime minister, Zahid contended he was required to be in and out of the country, and this would necessitate him holding his own passport.

Six defence witnesses, including Zahid, have previously testified, and the trial before Sequerah will resume on April 10. - Mkini