PUTRAJAYA: The Attorney General is seeking leave to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal that had allowed the Malaysian Bar to challenge the prosecution’s decision to halt all further proceedings against Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case.
In the notice of motion filed on Thursday (June 4), the AG Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar had posed two questions of law.
The first question is whether the AG’s decisions not to institute a prosecution and to discontinue a prosecution under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution are amenable to judicial review.
If answered in the affirmative, what would be the leave threshold or test applicable to commence judicial review proceedings against those decisions.
The second question is whether the two-stage test laid down by the Federal Court in Sundra Rajoo Nadarajah v Menteri Luar Negeri, Malaysia & Ors [2021] is properly characterised as a ratio decidendi (binding legal principle).
Dusuki has also applied for all proceedings in the High Court to be stayed pending the outcome of the leave application.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the second proposed respondent in the judicial review proceedings, filed a separate application for leave to appeal on May 25. He raised five questions of law in support of his leave application to appeal pursuant to Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
On May 7, this year, the Court of Appeal allowed the Malaysian Bar’s application to challenge the AG's decision on Sept 4, 2023, to halt proceedings against Ahmad Zahid, ruling that the application was not frivolous and raised arguable points of law that warranted a full hearing.
The court granted leave for the Bar to commence judicial review against the Attorney General's impugned decision, thereby setting aside the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision dated June 27, 2024.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court had dismissed the Malaysian Bar's application for leave to initiate judicial review proceedings, ruling that the application failed to meet the requisite threshold for judicial review.
The Bar is also seeking a declaration from the court that the decision made by then-High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah (now a Federal Court judge) to grant Ahmad Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on 47 criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering charges related to the Yayasan Akalbudi funds is null and void.
The High Court arrived at its decision to grant the DNAA after the prosecution informed that the Attorney General’s Chambers intended to halt proceedings against Ahmad Zahid in order to scrutinise new evidence.- Bernama
