Defence team to appeal for Zahid's full acquittal, says Hisyam Teh

KUALA LUMPUR: An appeal for a total acquittal for all 47 graft charges involving Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will be filed by the defence team, says lead counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.

He said they respect the decision by both the prosecution and the court and would file an appeal by Tuesday (Sept 5).

"Alhamdulillah because the prosecution have invoked their powers to stop proceedings. This is good because for the time being although there's no total acquittal, there's a discharge from the 47 charges.

"The learned Judge did not appreciate our arguments - we submitted before his Lordship that Datuk Seri (Ahmad Zahid) is entitled to discharge amounting to acquittal. However, the Court did not agree.

"We respect the decision of his Lordship and we will make an appeal to the Court of Appeal with regard to the decision made this morning. We are asking for a total acquittal," he told the reporters on Monday.

This follows the High Court granting the Deputy Prime Minister a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for his 47 charges related to Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) funds.

Ahmad Zahid, who was met after hearing the decision, said he was grateful with all the support he had received from various individuals throughout the hearings.

He also said that he would continue the struggle against selective prosecution.

"Our role was to continue our struggle as these charges were political in nature and have been put to an end," he said.

Also present at the court complex were several Umno leaders such as Wanita chief Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad and Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh, among others.

Ahmad Zahid was discharged of 12 criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges, eight counts of bribery and 27 for money laundering, involving scores of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akal Budi.

He was accused of committing the offences between March 28, 2016, and April 11, 2018.