High Court stays Malaysian Bar’s challenge against Zahid’s DNAA pending apex court appeal

The High Court has approved an interim stay on the Malaysian Bar's judicial review of the Attorney General's decision to stop corruption proceedings against Umno President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

This decision suspends the High Court challenge until the Federal Court addresses the government's appeal.

The stay order follows a recent Federal Court ruling that allows the Attorney General and Zahid to contest whether prosecutorial discretion can undergo judicial review.

Zahid had previously received a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on multiple charges in September 2023, after the prosecution decided to drop the case despite a prima facie case being established.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — The High Court has granted an interim stay on the Malaysian Bar’s judicial review challenging the Attorney General’s decision to halt corruption proceedings against Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The decision freezes the challenge until the Federal Court disposes of the government’s appeal.

Justice Azizan Arshad granted the stay order in chambers today following an application by the Attorney General (AG), according to Zahid’s lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, FMT reported.

The freeze halts High Court proceedings after the Federal Court recently granted both the AG and the deputy prime minister leave to challenge an earlier Court of Appeal verdict that had permitted the Malaysian Bar to pursue its judicial review.

“The Federal Court has yet to fix a hearing date for the appeal as the notice of appeal was only filed on Oct 19,” Guok said.

Federal counsel Safiyyah Omar and Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman appeared for the AG, while counsel S Abhilaash represented the Malaysian Bar.

Earlier this month, the apex court ruled that the AG and Zahid satisfied the statutory threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, clearing the way for full substantive arguments on whether prosecutorial discretion under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution is amenable to judicial review in such circumstances.

That decision paused the momentum generated by the Court of Appeal on May 7, when a three-judge panel unanimously overturned the High Court’s initial refusal to grant leave to the Bar.

The appellate court had reasoned that the Bar’s legal challenge was aimed directly at the “executive root”, namely the AG’s discretionary decision to discontinue the trial, rather than the criminal court’s subsequent judicial order granting Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).

Zahid was granted a DNAA by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in September 2023 across all 47 criminal breach of trust, corruption, and money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit from charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi, after the prosecution applied to discontinue the case despite having established a prima facie case.

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高等法院已批准暂缓执行马来西亚律师公会就总检察长停止对巫统主席拿督斯里阿末扎希哈米迪的贪污诉讼程序所提起的司法审查。

该决定暂停高等法院的诉讼程序，直至联邦法院审理政府的上诉。

暂缓执行令是根据联邦法院最近的一项裁决而颁布的，该裁决允许司法部长和扎希德对检察官自由裁量权是否可以接受司法审查提出异议。

扎希德此前曾于 2023 年 9 月因多项指控被撤销指控，但检方决定不予起诉，尽管初步证据已经成立。

吉隆坡，10 月 21 日讯——高等法院已批准马来西亚律师公会提出的司法审查的临时中止令，该审查旨在挑战总检察长停止对巫统主席拿督斯里阿末扎希哈米迪的贪污诉讼的决定。

该决定冻结了这项挑战，直到联邦法院驳回政府的上诉为止。

据 FMT 报道，扎希德的律师郭玉成表示，在总检察长提出申请后，阿齐赞·阿尔沙德法官今天在内庭批准了暂缓执行令。

联邦法院最近批准总检察长和副首相挑战此前上诉法院的裁决，该裁决允许马来西亚律师公会进行司法审查，此后高等法院的诉讼程序暂停。

“由于上诉通知书直到10月19日才提交，联邦法院尚未确定上诉听证日期，”郭克说。

联邦律师 Safiyyah Omar 和 Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman 代表总检察长出庭，而律师 S Abhilaash 则代表马来西亚律师公会出庭。

本月初，最高法院裁定，总检察长和扎希德满足了 1964 年《法院司法法》第 96 条规定的法定门槛，从而为就联邦宪法第 145(3) 条规定的检察官自由裁量权在此类情况下是否可接受司法审查进行全面实质性辩论扫清了障碍。

这一决定暂停了上诉法院在 5 月 7 日取得的进展，当时由三名法官组成的小组一致推翻了高等法院最初拒绝向律师协会颁发许可证的决定。

上诉法院认为，律师协会的法律挑战直接针对“行政根源”，即总检察长中止审判的自由裁量权决定，而不是刑事法院随后作出的给予扎希德无罪释放（DNAA）的司法命令。

2023 年 9 月，吉隆坡高等法院对扎希德提出撤销指控，免除了他被控的 47 项刑事失信、贪污和洗钱罪名，这些罪名涉及慈善基金会 Yayasan Akalbudi 的数百万令吉。此前，检方虽然已确立了初步证据，但仍申请撤销此案。

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