KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Malaysia is now “peaceful”, according to Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan who today hailed the Attorney General Chamber’s move to halt criminal proceedings against Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the right call that freed a man whom the system had wronged.
Speaking at a forum organised by Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) here, the Umno treasurer suggested the High Court’s decision to grant Zahid a discharge but not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) was likely the last major distraction the ruling coalition forces faced in the 10 months since it took power, after the so-called “unity government” survived a strong challenge by the Opposition in six state elections last month.
Pakatan Harapan retained Penang and Negeri Sembilan with a comfortable majority but lost a considerable number of seats in Selangor, considered the most coveted state.
“It’s peaceful now,” the deputy minister quipped, prompting murmurs and chuckles from the audience.
“It’s peaceful now, ladies and gentlemen. The state elections are done. And just yesterday, the man who had been wronged was freed. He was wronged for five years. I was wronged for three years,” he added, referring to his own money-laundering trial.
High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah agreed to discharge all 47 charges against Zahid yesterday in a highly controversial ruling that has spurred speculation and accusations of executive tempering.
Zahid, now one of two deputy prime ministers in the Anwar administration, was facing 12 counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM31 million from his charity organisation Yayasan Akalbudi, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges totalling RM21.25 million.
Zahid is also the current Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman.
Umno leaders immediately hailed the call as reaffirmation of their allegation that they had been the victims of political prosecution by the first Pakatan Harapan government.
Ahmad Maslan himself was among the list of Umno ‘s top leaders put on trial for various corruption and money-laundering offences in the aftermath of the party’s maiden defeat in the 14th general election. The deputy finance minister was acquitted after he paid a compound of RM1.1 million.
The Umno president could still face the same charges in the future should the AGC decide to reinstate them. The deputy public prosecutors in Zahid’s case gave 11 reasons why they sought the DNAA, among them to enable more comprehensive and complete investigations to be carried out.
The ruling could force Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be on the defensive yet again, according to political analysts polled by Malay Mail.
They said Anwar’s already tainted reformist credential would take more beating, with the Opposition likely to harp on the court decision as proof that the Umno-PH alliance was designed to protect leaders facing corruption charges.
Anwar has repeatedly maintained that the judiciary is free and that he will not tolerate any kind of political interference.
