SHAH ALAM: Former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will know on Sept 23 if he can walk away a free man or if he must defend himself against charges of graft in the Foreign Visa System (VLN) case.
High Court judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa, who set the date to deliver his decision based on whether or not the prosecution had successfully framed a prima facie case against the accused, also directed both the prosecution and defence teams to file notes of their oral submissions by Sept 13.
Wednesday (Sept 7) marked the end of both parties’ oral submissions after the prosecution closed its case.
Ahmad Zahid, 69, is charged with 33 counts of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56mil from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) during his tenure as home minister in order to extend the company’s contract to continue operating the one-stop centre in China and the VLN.
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The alleged graft was also to ensure that the contract agreement for the supply of the VLN integrated system by the company was maintained by the Home Ministry.
He also faces seven additional charges for allegedly procuring for himself S$1.15mil, RM3mil, 15,000 Swiss francs and US$15,000 in his capacity as home minister at the time.
He is accused of committing the alleged crimes between October 2014 and March 2018 in his private residence in Country Homes, Kajang and his official residence in Putrajaya.
Meanwhile, the contentious issue of whether the money allegedly paid to Ahmad Zahid can be regarded as UKSB’s, given that it came from other companies based in Hong Kong and Labuan, continued to haunt the proceedings.
The defence team’s Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal had argued on Tuesday (Sept 6) that although it was stated the money was from UKSB, in all the charges levelled against Ahmad Zahid, the prosecution did not prove where the funds came from.
“According to evidence in court, it was from Hong Kong and from dividends from an offshore company in Labuan," he had said.
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On Wednesday, DPP Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran, heading the prosecution team, said it did not matter where the money came from to prove that Ahmad Zahid had violated the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and the Penal Code.
She said the prosecution witnesses from UKSB had testified they obtained the funds from other parties to allegedly pay Zahid as their company did not have enough money.
Raja Rozela, Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Abdul Malik Ayob, Zander Lim Wai Keong and B Thavani were in the prosecution team while Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Ahmad Zaidi and Hamidi Mohd Noh appeared for Ahmad Zahid.
The prosecution had called 18 witnesses including UKSB directors VK Lee, Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani and David Tan Siong Sun.
