PUTRAJAYA: The prosecution has been given more time to deal with its appeal over Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s acquittal from 40 corruption charges in the foreign visa (VLN) system case.
Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob told deputy registrar Khairi Haron he needed time to obtain instructions from Attorney-General Idrus Harun over the matter.
Khairi has fixed the appeal for further case management on March 31.
Zahid, who is the deputy prime minister and Umno president, was represented at today’s case management by lawyer Aiman Abdul Rahman.
FMT also understands that Zahid’s legal team had sent in representations to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) last month calling for the prosecution to withdraw its appeal.
The representations were made after the defence team reviewed the prosecution’s petition of appeal which was filed on Dec 29.
The petition of appeal lists 15 grounds that the prosecution says warrants overturning the trial judge’s decision to acquit Zahid.
The prosecution says Justice Yazid Mustafa, who presided over the trial in the High Court, misdirected himself by comparing the facts of the case to those of another case.
Prosecutors contend Yazid erred when comparing the facts to those in Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial, adding that a fact scenario alone does not make Rosmah’s case a binding precedent.
Yazid, they say, 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 say the judge failed to take into consideration a witness’ testimony that a ledger presented as evidence in court was a “contemporaneous document”.
The prosecution team 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 last year, Yazid ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against Zahid.
Zahid, 70, had been charged with 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
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