MUDA vice-president Lim Wei Jiet has called for a substantive explanation of the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on Monday to grant Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) in his corruption trial, following the Attorney-General’s Chamber’s (AGC) statement yesterday.

In a post on the social media platform X, Lim said: “I’m sorry, but this is a non-response response. There’s nothing there. 

“We want a full & honest explanation. This only cements what people have suspected all along.

“(And a great disservice to the good people in the AGC whom I respect & deal with, this is not their working),” he said in the post today.

Yesterday, the AGC said the application for a DNAA in the Zahid’s corruption case was based on cogent reasons.  

“Based on media reports that the AGC’s act to withdraw the charges against Zahid is immoral, the department would like to stress that the decision was made based on reasons given, and accepted by the court,” the AGC said in a statement. 

“When making the decision, the honourable judge stated that the reasons given by the prosecution were cogent.”

This came after Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin questioned if the prosecution had received orders from its “superiors” to discharge Zahid from his corruption case.

Muhyiddin said if it was true that there was such an order, then dropping the charges against Zahid, after he was ordered to enter his defence, was a black spot in the country’s justice system.

Malaysiakini had reported that Muda has also threatened to withdraw support for the government, which would effectively deny them a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat. 

Its president, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, said his party would not hesitate to re-evaluate its position in the coalition.

He said Muda is also considering a street protest, saying the DNAA granted to Zahid is “one of the biggest red lines crossed”.

Muda is also initiating a nationwide campaign to pressure the AGC to prosecute Zahid for corruption again.

High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Monday allowed a prosecution application to grant Zahid a DNAA on all 47 of his criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering charges in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi funds.

The prosecution said it wanted to halt proceedings so that a more in-depth investigation can be done into the case. – September 6, 2023.