KUALA LUMPUR – Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s lawyers have urged the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to expedite its decision on the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman’s representations regarding his ongoing Yayasan Akalbudi case.
Zahid’s lawyers, Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal and Hamidi Mohd Noh, called on the AGC to provide a decision before the defence calls in more of its witnesses.
“The defence has already submitted representations on December 8 last year and January 25 this year, with over 200 pages to the prosecution, with the representations aimed at, among other things, asking for justice for (Zahid) and for all 47 charges in this case to be reviewed.
“Until today, the defence has not received any answer from the Attorney-General (Tan Sri Idrus Harun). As such, the defence requests for the decision on the representations to be expedited before the defence calls in more witnesses for this trial.
“A decision on these representations is needed as soon as possible to ensure that both sides can save costs and time,” the lawyers said in a joint statement today.
Earlier this week, Hamidi told the high court here that the defence plans to call in a total of 32 witnesses, with 15 having already testified in court.
They added that the representations revolve around the political nature of the charges, claiming that the prosecution by then attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas was “political” in nature, with then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appointing Thomas to prosecute Zahid.
Besides asserting that a “defective investigation” had been carried out over a period of four months, the lawyers said that it was normal for the defence to submit representations to the AGC, as it is a right afforded to an accused.
“No parties should use the facts of the representations for political interest or to scare the public by giving a bad impression of the representations.
“We will take legal action against anyone who prejudices the right of our client in practising his right for the representations,” they added.
Zahid, who is also BN linchpin Umno president, is facing 47 charges with 12 of them for breach of trust, eight charges of corruption and 27 charges of money laundering, involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds belonging to his charity organisation, Yayasan Akalbudi.
On January 24, 2022, the court ordered Zahid to defend himself against all the charges after the prosecution succeeded in proving a prima facie case. – August 24, 2023