Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly raised a preliminary objection to the appeal this morning, stating that the Bar filed a separate application yesterday seeking leave to commence judicial review of the AG’s subsequent decision to take no further action (NFA) in Zahid’s case.
Justice Faizah Jamaludin, delivering the unanimous ruling, said the AG’s NFA decision, made in January this year, was a separate matter from his decision to secure a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for the deputy prime minister in the case.
“The fact that the appellant (Bar) has filed for a judicial review of the AG’s NFA decision does not make this appeal against the High Court decision to dismiss the application for leave for the judicial review over the AG decision relating to the DNAA academic,” she said.
Faizah, sitting with Justices Lim Hock Leng and Nadzrin Wok Nordin, ruled that there were live and subsisting issues in the Bar’s appeal that warranted a full hearing.
She said the bench had taken into account several Federal Court precedents which held that appellate courts are not barred from hearing appeals, even if they appear academic.
Earlier, lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, appearing for the Bar, pointed out that Zahid had not been granted a full acquittal despite having made his application to the High Court.
“The judge there has adjourned the matter pending the outcome of the Bar’s appeal in the Court of Appeal,” she said in response to Hanir’s submissions.
Lawyer Steven Thiru, also appearing for the Bar, submitted that its appeal concerned a public law issue of public interest.
“Our appeal to get leave is to challenge the power of the AG under the Federal Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.
On June 27, 2024, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed the Bar’s application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings to challenge the AG’s decision to discontinue the case against Zahid, giving rise to the present appeal.
Justice Amarjeet Singh ruled that the AG had no duty to furnish the Bar with any documents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigations into the case.
On Sept 4, 2023, the High Court granted Zahid a DNAA order on 47 charges of corruption, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust pending further investigations by MACC.
Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who presided over the trial, allowed the application despite previously ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against Zahid on all charges.
The case was already at the defence stage when the DNAA was granted, with Zahid and several other defence witnesses having already testified.
In a statement on Jan 8, the AG’s Chambers said the prosecution found insufficient evidence to proceed with the charges following MACC’s probe.