Bar a busybody, says Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar is simply a “busybody” when it sought for leave to commence judicial review to challenge Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in the Yayasan Akalbudi case, the High Court was told.

Ahmad Zahid said this in his affidavit-in-reply to an application filed by the Bar on Dec 2, 2023, which sought to quash the Attorney General’s decision that resulted in the DNAA.

The Deputy Prime Minister contended that only a party adversely affected by the decision of the AG, who is also the public prosecutor, may apply for leave to file judicial review in the case.

“The applicant is not even a complainant nor a victim in the criminal charges proffered against me in the Criminal High Court.

“Therefore the applicant has failed to fulfil the elementary requirement under Order 53 Rule 2(4) of the Rules of Court 2012 and other provisions of the law before filing the present application,” he said.

Ahmad Zahid said the applicant attempted to portray an image of being a champion of justice to the public by questioning the AG’s decision and the court in granting him the DNAA.

He said the applicant’s conduct in filing the said application was selective and biased as the applicant kept “silent, cowed or muted” in their response in other politically linked cases that were given DNAA.

Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, who appeared for the AG, submitted to the court that Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code allowed for the AG to apply for a DNAA even after the prima facie stage.

He said the AG could make the application not to pursue a prosecution at any stage as long as the court had not made its final verdict.

According to Ahmad Hanir, the Bar did not fulfil the legal requirement in its application and failed to show how the AG had acted irrationally and illegally.

High Court judge Justice Amarjeet Singh fixed Feb 6 for case management.

On Dec 2, 2023, the Bar filed an application for leave to commence judicial review over Ahmad Zahid’s DNAA.

It named the AG and Ahmad Zahid as the first and second respondents respectively.

It sought relief from the court for an order of certiorari to remove and quash the AG’s decision on Sept 4, 2023 to apply for a DNAA in Zahid’s case and a declaration that the Sept 4 decision was null and void and made in excess of the jurisdiction granted to the AG.

It also sought for the AG to act in accordance with Section 254A of the Criminal Procedure Code and recharge Zahid in the criminal cases and seek a reinstatement of the cases.

Ahmad Zahid’s Yayasan Akalbudi trial, where he was accused of misappropriating millions from the foundation, began on Nov 18, 2019.

The trial lasted 77 days and was in the midst of its defence stage when the DNAA was granted.