KUALA LUMPUR – The High Court was told that all accusations against the President of UMNO, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is a form of excessive oppression.
The charges against the former Deputy Prime Minister should be dropped, said Defence Counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.
According to him, Ahmad Zahid should receive an immunity in the case for revealing all information on the funds of Yayasan Akalbudi.
According to Hisyam Teh, the prosecution is unfair by charging his client with 47 counts of charges.
He delivered his final arguments before High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah during the criminal breach of trust, power abuse, corruption and money-laundering trial involving millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.
“Based on the corruption charges and Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA), my client does not need to be judged.
“The prosecution also committed unfair procedures and violated Section 51A(1)(c) of the Criminal Procedures Code.
“The prosecution can in fact, find various evidences that side the accused. For example, 31 cheques on money-laundering were stamped.
“They were not personally signed by the accused. The donors also revealed that the monies were for charity and religious activities,” he said.
According to him, the information revealed by the accused could give him the immunity from being prosecuted as provided under sub-section 30(7) of the MACC Act.
Hisyam Teh also said that Ahmad Zahid should be given the immunity for giving full cooperation to the authorities since the beginning of the investigation by sharing all information on the transactions of his foundation.
On the contrary, he alleged that the rights were denied by the prosecution.
“My client has been judged excessively when there is no need to do so. There is no prima facie evidence on top of all the other evidences.
“Based on all these factors, the case should be dropped,” he emphasized.
The proceeding will resume tomorrow morning.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Member of Parliament of Bagan Datuk is facing 47 counts of charges. 12 of them involved criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight counts of corruption and 27 counts of money-laundering involving millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi. –MalaysiaGazette
