DEPUTY Prime Minister (DPM) Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who earlier had to surrender his passport as part of bail conditions after he was charged with 47 counts of graft has failed in his application to have his passport returned permanently to him.
Although the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Zahid’s application for a permanent release of his passport facilitate his performing official duties, judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed a temporary return of the UMNO president’s passport to enable the latter to apply for a diplomatic passport.
“The federal constitution stipulates that all persons are equal before the law and there shall be no privilege, person or class above the law,” the New Straits Times cited Sequerah as saying in his ruling.
“The court, nonetheless, takes cognisance of the fact that as a deputy prime minister and as a minister, the accused has official duties to perform.”
For the uninitiated, diplomatic passports are issued to government officials and their families who have been sent abroad for official duties.
Sequerah is the trial judge in the ongoing Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case against the Rural and Regional Development Minister and Bagan Datuk MP.
Sequerah said the law must operate alike on all persons, and that applying this means that therefore, there is no distinction between one accused and another in relation to an ongoing criminal case.
“While the court takes cognisance of that as the deputy prime minister, the accused has an official duty to perform, but this must not clash with the duty of the courts,” justified the judge as cited by Malaysiakini.
“There can be the release of his passport for discharging his official duty overseas as and when necessary but this must not clash with the duty of the court to hear trials.
“There is also a request by the prosecution that the accused can have his (Zahid’s) passport returned for the application of a diplomatic passport, and then the passport is to be returned back to the court.
“The application for the permanent release is dismissed. However, the application is granted for the release of the passport to allow for the application of a diplomatic passport,” added Sequerah.
Zahid, 70, had earlier claimed he encountered some constraints to carry out his duties because he does not have access to his passport.
To enable smooth movement in his official capacity as the DPM who is required to be in and out of the country, Zahid contended this would necessitate him holding his own passport.
His trial that entails criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving millions of Yayasan Akalbudi funds is now in the defence stage following the court ordering him to enter his defence. – Feb 3, 2023
