AHMAD Zahid Hamidi told the Kuala Lumpur High Court again today that the selective prosecution by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government against him and more than 20 Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders after the 2018 general election was politically motivated.

Zahid, 69, said when BN failed to form the government after the polls, he and other leaders, including Najib Razak, Ahmad Maslan and Tengku Adnan Mansor, were dragged to court for alleged criminal offences.

“Your Honour, I am aware that on May 9, 2018, when the government under BN failed to obtain enough seats to form the government, a coalition of other parties took over and in June (2018), a report by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was made against me,” he said.

The former deputy prime minister said this during re-examination by his lawyer, Ahmad Zaidi Zainal, when making his defence on 47 charges – 12 for criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering – involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB).

Zahid said when the PH coalition took over the federal government, charges that had been made against 15 individuals in court, including Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa and the then PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, were withdrawn. 

“If this is not a politically motivated charge, I don’t know what other terms can be used,” he said.

“Charges against the accused were withdrawn by the attorney-general at the time while individuals from the losing party were dragged to court.”

Questioned by Zaidi whether he had been threatened, either subtly or harshly, by the prime minister and deputy prime minister regarding the YAB case, Zahid said: “Not specifically threatened over matters related to YAB, but threats to my position in the party as the Umno president.

“The then prime minister, Tun (Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) said he wanted to meet me and the threat made against me was that if I did not leave Umno and dissolve the party, something would be done to me. Certainly, these charges made against me were as a result of the threat.”

He said Dr Mahathir did admit to some media having asked him (Zahid) to leave Umno and dissolve the party.

Hence, this admission provides strong evidence in the case, he said.

The hearing before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. – Bernama, August 29, 2022.