Malaysian court dismisses dozens of graft charges against deputy prime minister
A Malaysian court has dismissed 47 corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the charges at an advanced stage of his trial
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed 47 corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the charges at an advanced stage of his trial.
Zahid said the High Court approved the prosecutors' application for a dismissal but refused to grant him a full acquittal, which means he can still be recharged. But he said he was grateful that the “politically motivated accusations against me have ended.”
Zahid heads the United Malays National Organization, and his support has been pivotal in helping Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim form a unity government after last November's general election led to a hung Parliament. Zahid’s dismissal sparked new criticism and further hurt the anti-corruption stance of Anwar’s government. Opposition leaders have alleged that Zahid supported Anwar so the charges against him could be dropped.
Monday’s court ruling came just weeks after local elections in which the Islamist-Malay nationalist opposition bloc made further inroads in government-ruled states.
Lead prosecutor Mohamad Dusuki Mokhtar was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying that the charges against Zahid were temporarily halted to prevent any miscarriage of justice. He said Zahid raised new issues and evidence in an appeal to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for the charges to be dropped.
That included claims that his case had been rushed through and that he was a victim of selective prosecution by the previous government. Dusuki said further investigations would be
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