Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has pushed back the prosecution’s appeal against deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s acquittal in his foreign visa system (VLN) corruption case until Dec 12.

The hearing was supposed to be on Sept 9, but during case management today Zahid’s lawyers informed the court that he has to attend a conference in China on that date, so the court registrar fixed the new date for Dec 12.

On March 18, the prosecution’s appeal was adjourned after Zahid’s lawyers filed representations to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Zahid was charged with 33 counts of receiving bribes totalling S$13.6 million (RM42 million) from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd between 2014 and 2018 while he was home minister and deputy prime minister under the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

He was also charged with seven other counts of obtaining for himself the sums of S$1.15 million, RM3 million, 15,000 Swiss francs and US$15,000 from the same company in connection with his official duties.

On Sept 23, 2022, Justice Yazid Mustafa, then a High Court judge, acquitted Zahid of all 40 charges after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.

The Court of Appeal previously granted the prosecution five adjournments to allow the attorney-general to decide whether to proceed with the appeal.