FORMER Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan today chided the government after Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today received a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) on his corruption charges.

She posted on X that the government had to explain its decision.

“An utter waste of public funds in proving a prima facie case and a waste of all the hard work of members of the AG’s Chambers.

“An explanation is definitely owed to the public. And I hope no UG (unity government) politician dares to justify this or ever again say they are anti-corruption,” she said.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah made the ruling after listening to the prosecution’s submissions.

He said the decision was made to allow further investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The difference between a discharge amounting to an acquittal (DAA) and DNAA is that with the former, the case is concluded.

However, with a DNAA, the prosecution may decide to file fresh charges based on the same facts.

Prosecution team head Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar said the DNAA application was made according to section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He also presented 11 reasons for the application, one of which was to let the MACC conduct a detailed investigation into the defence testimony of 15 witnesses, including the accused.

Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said Zahid’s acquittal was proof the latter was a victim of political oppression.

In a statement, Asyraf accused former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his former party Bersatu of levelling charges against Zahid in 2018.

“From the beginning, Umno was confident and believed Zahid was the victim of political prosecution carried out when Dr Mahathir was appointed for the second time as prime minister.

“More depressingly, the cruelty towards Zahid happened only a few weeks after Dr Mahathir, as Bersatu chairman at the time, threatened to have Umno disbanded in a meeting, as admitted by him in a media interview.

“This is further reinforced by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in his memoir ‘My Story: Justice in the Wilderness’, who clearly admitted to being directly involved in arranging some selective prosecutions against influential political individuals with Dr Mahathir,” said Asyraf.

Last year, Zahid was ordered to enter his defence on 47 charges – 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight counts of corruption and 27 counts of money laundering.

He was accused of embezzling millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister between 2013 and 2018. – September 4, 2023.