However, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed Zahid’s passport to be released to him temporarily so he can apply for a diplomatic passport.

Sequerah said Zahid, who is facing 47 corruption charges, must return the passport to the court after applying for a diplomatic passport.

He said the application to release his personal passport was disallowed as all persons or accused were equal under the law.

“There is no distinction between one accused and another. As such, the application to have his personal passport released permanently is dismissed,” he said.

Sequerah said he took cognizance that the accused is a deputy prime minister and the rural and regional development minister, but added that Zahid’s performance of those duties cannot disrupt the trial of the case.

Earlier, Zahid’s lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, informed the court the prosecution had no objection to the application.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob, however, clarified that the prosecution did not object to Zahid’s request to enable him to secure a diplomatic passport.

“However, we need to point out that the personal passport must be returned to court after the diplomatic passport is issued,” he said.

In his Jan 20 affidavit, Zahid, who is also the Umno president, said he needed the passport to carry out his duties effectively, which would include embarking on official trips overseas.

“As deputy prime minister, I have a mandate from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to represent him for official matters (overseas),” he said.

Zahid said he had no intention of running away and will be present on all trial dates set by the court.

He said he presently faces restrictions when carrying out his duties as he does not have access to his passport.

He also said he needed his personal passport to apply to the immigration department for a diplomatic passport for his official duties.

With the return of the passport, he said, he would no longer need to apply for a temporary release through the courts.

As such, he was applying to set aside the order to surrender his passport as part of the conditions for his bail.

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.

The case is at the defence stage with six witnesses having testified so far. The trial is scheduled to resume on April 10.

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