KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution today accused Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of trying to stall his ongoing corruption proceedings and delay the outcome of the trial.
Lead prosecutor Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran urged the court to reject such attempts by the former deputy prime minister.
She pointed out that Zahid, who is Umno president, was facing very serious charges and the trial was being closely watched by the public.
"This trial involves a former deputy prime minister of the country and he is facing very serious charges.
"This trial is of public and national importance and any attempt to impede the progress of the proceedings must be rejected," she said.
Raja Rozela also pointed out that the trial had taken three years and was now just at the defence stage after Zahid had been ordered to enter his defence against the charges.
She said this when submitting against Zahid's application to stop the ongoing proceedings pending the outcome of his appeal to obtain witness statements recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Zahid had filed the stay application as he wanted the Court of Appeal to announce its decision first.
On May 9, the High Court had dismissed Zahid's application to gain access to the statements of 15 witnesses recorded by MACC.
Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah had dismissed his application on grounds of public policy and public interest.
However, Zahid's lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik dismissed Raja Rozela's accusation of the defence trying to delay the trial.
He said such accusations had been hurled at the defence right from the onset of the trial even though such allegations were not true.
Citing an incident last week, Teh said his client had returned to attend court though he was given two days medical leave.
On the three years it has taken the trial, he said the defence could not be blamed for the shut-down imposed due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Zahid is accused of 47 counts of money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving millions of ringgit from charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as home minister.
Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.
Sequerah is expected to rule on Zahid's application later this afternoon.