KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Retired judge who returned to private law practice Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram is leading the prosecution against former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.

Ahmad Zahid is expected to be charged with a total of 45 offences, including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering into funds belonging to a charity run by his family.

Gopal was roped in by Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and appointed a senior deputy public prosecutor under Section 376 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code on August 31, to help the government legal team that has been bogged down by the mammoth legal complexities surrounding the 1Malaysia Development Berhad financial scandal.

Also on the prosecution team are four other deputy public prosecutors: Ahmad Akram Gharib, Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam, Deepa Nair Thevaharan and Nadia Mohd Izhar.

Ahmad Zahid has also lined up an impressive 12-man defence team, including prominent criminal lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.

Hisyam’s track record includes defending the two women accused of killing Kim Jong-nam by smearing a toxic nerve agent on his face at klia2 in February last year.

Other lawyers defending the Umno president include Datuk Ahmad Zadi Zainal, Hamidi Mohd Nor and Kitson Foong.