AG’s indecision over Zahid’s representation to drop appeal looks bad, says lawyer
Rafique Rashid Ali says that as a guardian of public interest, the attorney-general is expected to uphold the rule of law.
(FMT) – Attorney-General Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh’s indecision over whether to accept Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s representation to withdraw the appeal against his acquittal in his foreign visa system corruption case does not augur well for his public office, says a lawyer.
Rafique Rashid Ali said it was unfair to keep the deputy prime minister and the court waiting when the representation was sent 14 months ago.
“It reflects badly on the AG, who is also the public prosecutor, to refuse to take a stand on the appeal and the respondent’s representation,” he told FMT.
Rafique was commenting on the Court of Appeal’s decision on Monday to give Terrirudin another six months to decide on the representation, including a second representation sent last month.
Rafique, a former co-chairman of the Bar Council’s criminal law committee, said that in other cases, a representation would have been dealt with swiftly.
“As a guardian of public interest, the AG is expected to act without fear or favour and uphold the rule of law,” he said.
On Sept 23, 2022, Justice Yazid Mustafa, then a High Court judge, acquitted Zahid on all 40 charges after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.
Another lawyer, Salim Bashir, said Terrirudin, who was the solicitor-general from March 2022 before being appointed as AG last September, would have known the history of the case, including Zahid’s first representation.
He said Terrirudin could have obtained the opinions of the remaining deputy public prosecutors who conducted the trial in coming to a decision.
Salim, a former Bar president, said the representation could have been disposed of much earlier as the appeal records, including the grounds of judgment, were made available in December 2022.
He said even if Terrirudin was to accept the representation, no law required him to give his reasons, unless his wisdom dictated that he ought to give one.
Salim said it was time the Attorney-General’s Chambers considered drawing up internal guidelines, like a timeline, to reply to an accused or respondent’s representation.
Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who chaired a three-member bench with Justices Azman Abdullah and SM Komathy Suppiah, said Monday’s postponement was the final adjournment.
She fixed the hearing on Sept 6 and expressed her unhappiness over doing so, saying she had spent several days reading the High Court’s notes of proceedings in preparation for the hearing.
Zahid’s lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik applied for the postponement, saying a second set of representations was lodged with the chambers on Feb 7.
The Court of Appeal previously granted the prosecution five adjournments to allow the AG to decide whether to proceed with the appeal. In December last year, it fixed March 18 as the appeal appearing date.
Zahid was charged with 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million (RM42 million) from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd between 2014 and 2018 while he was home minister and deputy prime minister under the 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 (RM79,856) and US$15,000 (RM70,995) from the same company in connection with his official duties.
