PUTRAJAYA: Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing 47 corruption charges in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, has applied to the Court of Appeal to have his personal passport returned to him permanently.
His lawyer, Aiman Abdul Rahman, said the application was made on Feb 13 after trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah refused to vary Zahid’s bail conditions to allow him possession of the travel document.
Aiman said the Court of Appeal has fixed March 27 to hear Zahid’s application.
The application came up for mention before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Khairi Haron today.
Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik represented the prosecution.
Zahid had previously applied to set aside a condition in his bail, which required him to surrender his personal passport to the court to be impounded pending the disposal of his ongoing criminal case.
In his Jan 20 affidavit, Zahid, who is also the Umno president, said he needed to be in possession of his passport so he can carry out his duties effectively, which include embarking on official trips overseas.
Sequerah dismissed the application on Feb 3.
However, the judge allowed Zahid’s passport to be released to him temporarily to enable him to apply for a diplomatic passport, which must also be kept by the court.
Sequerah said Zahid was not entitled to have the passport in his possession as all accused persons were equal under the law.
That decision means Zahid would have to obtain the court’s approval to undertake any overseas travel.
Zahid is accused of 47 counts of money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as the home minister between 2013 and 2018.
Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.
