Malaysia DPM Zahid seeks full acquittal after prosecutors end corruption case over lack of evidence

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is seeking full acquittal in a case involving 47 charges, his lawyer says, after prosecutors decided that there was no longer a basis to pursue it.

The charges related to corruption, money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving more than RM31.06 million (US$7.64 million) of funds from Zahid’s charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) announced on Thursday (Jan 8) that no further action will be taken on the 47 charges previously brought against Zahid after a discharge not amounting to an acquittal was granted in September 2023. 

It added that a review of the evidence showed it was insufficient to sustain a prosecution, describing the move as the “final termination” of the matter, local news outlet Malay Mail reported.

The decision followed additional investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and a reassessment of six representations submitted by the defence after Zahid was granted the discharge not amounting to acquittal in 2023.

"After examining all the materials and new evidence obtained from the results of the further investigations and research, the AGC, based on the assessment and consideration of the prosecution, found that the available evidence is insufficient to support continuation of the prosecution for all the charges in question," the AGC said in a statement.

The decision was made “taking into account the interests of justice, integrity of the prosecution process, as well as the need to ensure certainty and accuracy in the criminal justice system,” it added, in a two-page statement explaining its decision. 

The 73-year-old president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which is part of the ruling government, had previously pleaded not guilty to all 47 charges - 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight for bribery and 27 for money laundering - involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to the charitable foundation of which Zahid is a trustee and sole signatory for cheques. 

The discharge not amounting to an acquittal granted in September 2023 had allowed prosecutors to revive the case should fresh evidence emerge. 

Following the AGC’s decision on Thursday, Zahid’s lead defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said that an application would be filed to convert the discharge not amounting to an acquittal into a discharge amounting to an acquittal.

“We will soon be filing an application in the Court of Appeal to obtain the DAA (discharge amounting to an acquittal),” he told Free Malaysia Today.

According to Malay Mail, the latest decision by the AGC means that the deputy prime minister now has no remaining criminal cases, following his earlier acquittal in a separate corruption trial involving 40 charges related to the foreign visa system. 

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail defended the AGC’s move, saying that it had acted within the law. 

“Any decision made, I believe is made within the legal framework and based on powers conferred by the Constitution,” he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times on Thursday, referring to Article 145 of the Federal Constitution which empowers the Attorney-General to decide on whether a case should be prosecuted. 

However, the decision has drawn criticism from within the ruling coalition.

Democratic Action Party (DAP) legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh said that the AGC’s move to classify the case as “No Further Action” undermines public confidence and raises serious questions about the transparency of its investigations and decision making process. 

“With respect, this is not a case in which no findings were made,” said Singh, a former deputy law minister, as quoted by Free Malaysia Today. 

DAP is another component party of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan ruling government. 

Singh said that while the AGC attributed its decision to a comprehensive review of available material, it had failed to clarify whether it had reassessed the prima facie findings made by Malaysia’s High Court in 2023. 

He added that it is a matter of public record that the High Court had found a prima facie case against the UMNO president at the close of the prosecution’s case, Free Malaysia Today reported. 

The prima facie finding meant that Zahid was legally required to enter his defence. 

Singh also pointed out that Zahid’s trial in the High Court which began in 2019, lasted nearly four years before it was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, during which numerous prosecution witnesses had testified. 

“Given the circumstances, the AGC must explain why it is now of the view that the prima facie findings of the High Court no longer carry weight, especially when those findings were based on its own evidence presented in court,” he said on Thursday, quoted by Free Malaysia Today. 

Local media reported previously that the Yayasan Akalbudi case involved allegations that Zahid had purportedly used the millions of ringgit’s worth of charity funds to make six payments for his personal credit cards usage, insurance policy and licence for his personal vehicles, remittances to a law firm and contributions to the Malaysian police football association.

Under the eight bribery charges, Ahmad Zahid was accused of receiving bribes amounting to RM21.25 million from three firms in his capacity as home minister as an inducement for him to help the companies secure projects, including in the supply of passport chips and setting up of visa one-stop centres in Pakistan and Nepal.

As for the 27 money laundering charges, he was alleged to have engaged in direct transactions involving RM72 million as income from illegal activities between March 2016 and April 2018.