KUALA LUMPUR — The Attorney General (AG) and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have been granted leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling which allowed the Malaysian Bar to challenge the decision to discontinue 47 corruption charges against the Umno president.
A three-member Federal Court bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah, alongside Justices Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Che Ruzima Ghazali, ruled that both the AG and Zahid had met the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
Hashim said leave would only be granted where a case raised a novel constitutional or legal question of public importance that warranted determination by the Federal Court.
He said the case involved a challenge to the AG’s prosecutorial powers under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution.
“The High Court applied a two-stage threshold, which held that the AG’s prosecutorial decisions may be subject to judicial review in rare and exceptional circumstances,” he said.
Hashim said the Court of Appeal, however, had applied a single-stage test under Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012, while exercising discipline, caution and restraint when dealing with the AG’s prosecutorial powers.
“We are of the view that the present case raises novel constitutional issues of public importance, their new application, and final determination by this court,” Hashim said.
The decision means the Federal Court will now hear the appeal involving the Malaysian Bar’s bid to challenge the discontinuation of the charges against Zahid.
On May 7, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed the Bar’s appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s refusal to grant leave for the judicial review.
The appellate court held that the challenge was directed at the “executive root”—referring to the AG’s decision to discontinue the prosecution—rather than the criminal court’s subsequent order granting Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
Zahid was granted a DNAA on all 47 charges in September 2023.
Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly and Federal Counsel Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman appeared for the AG.
Ambiga Sreenevasan, Steven Thiru, S. Sivaneindiren, Gregory Das, and Abhilaash Subramaniam represented the Malaysian Bar.
Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Ahmad Zaidi Zainal, Guok Ngek Seng, and six others acted for Zahid. – October 8, 2026