Kuala Lumpur:The High Court has set June 14, 2027, for case management regarding the Malaysian Bar's judicial review application. This application challenges the prosecution's decision to drop the Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case involving Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Judge S. Indra Nehru scheduled the date after lawyer Abhilaash Subramaniam, representing the Malaysian Bar, informed the court that both Ahmad Zahid and the Attorney-General had received permission from the Federal Court on October 8 to appeal a previous Court of Appeal decision.
Abhilaash requested that the judicial review hearing at the High Court occur after the Federal Court appeal proceedings conclude. The court also ordered that the next case management be conducted via e-review before a High Court deputy registrar. He noted that no date had yet been set for the substantive appeal hearing and that preparations, including compiling appeal records and exchanging written submissions, could take several months.
Federal counsel Safiyyah Omar, representing the Attorney-General, agreed with this approach, and Ahmad Zahid's lawyer, Datuk Guok Ngek Seong, raised no objections.
On October 8, a Federal Court panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah granted Ahmad Zahid and the Attorney-General leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision allowing the Malaysian Bar to initiate judicial review proceedings. The case involves significant constitutional questions of public importance that require clarification and a definitive ruling by the Federal Court.
Previously, on May 7, the Court of Appeal allowed the Malaysian Bar to challenge the Attorney-General's decision to discontinue proceedings against Ahmad Zahid on September 4, 2023. This overturned a High Court ruling from June 27, 2024, which had dismissed the Malaysian Bar's application for leave to commence a judicial review.
Ahmad Zahid, named as the proposed second respondent in the judicial review, subsequently applied for leave to appeal to the Federal Court on May 25, while the Attorney-General filed a separate application. The Malaysian Bar seeks a High Court declaration that the decision by then High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, now a Federal Court judge, to grant Ahmad Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on 47 charges related to Yayasan Akalbudi was null and void. The High Court granted the discharge after the prosecution indicated a need to discontinue proceedings to consider new evidence.