After Zahids' apology, judge decides no contempt is shown but warns of attempts to mislead court | Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 The High Court today ruled that Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had not been charged with contempt of court, but also warned generally that any attempt to misleading the court would be punished.

High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah listened to Zahids' apology to the court this morning for yesterday's confusion and misunderstandings regarding his request to postpone his trial for corruption for a day.

High Court judge said he accepted Zahids 'lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teiks' explanation that the misunderstanding was due to poor communication between Zahid and his lawyers and the wrong choice of words used when Zahids' lawyers yesterday asked to postpone a day of the trial.

The decision of the court, after hearing the explanation given by the accused, and after hearing the learned counsel of the accused and having regard to the observations of the learned prosecutor, I accept that 39; there may have been miscommunication between the instructions between the accused and Counsel.

I also accept that there may have been a wrong choice of words when requesting an adjournment, which may have caused a misunderstanding.

I also take into account the accused's sincere apologies for a misunderstanding. And no less important was the pledge made by the accused lawyer that this would not happen again. I cannot find any ground for contempt, said the judge.

Although he did not find any case of contempt of court against Zahid, the judge did, however, issue a general warning.

As a general statement and warning, this court wishes to make clear that it will not tolerate any attempt to mislead. In the event of an attempt to mislead the court or contemptuous conduct, that court makes it clear and clear that it will not hesitate to impose a fine or imprisonment, said the judge.

The judge made his decision after the court withdrew for about 20 minutes, following Zahids' apology and the arguments presented by his lawyer and the prosecution.

Before the court withdrew, Zahids' lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had assured that this incident would not happen again.

Monseigneur, the accused apologized for all the confusion, any misunderstanding that it takes great humility for the accused to apologize at a public hearing.

Very certain that it will not happen again. An apology is sufficient, Hisyam said after arguing that the court could use the alternative option of accepting an apology instead of citing Zahid for contempt.

Earlier, Zahid had read a handwritten note of apology that he had prepared, stating that he did not intend to mislead the court yesterday for request a postponement of his trial day.

Yang Arif, I agree with all the explanations given by my eminent lawyer and I openly apologize for this confusion and misunderstanding.

And I have no intention at all of misleading this court, and I am very respectful of Yang Arif and respectful of this honorable court. I apologize once again for the confusion, he said to the judge, rising from the dock.

Yesterday's controversy

Yesterday morning, the High Court authorized the lawyers of Zahids to request the postponement of the current trial to today, instead of resuming as scheduled yesterday to allow him to meet Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for negotiations in to form a new cabinet.

At that time, Zahid did not present any documents during the legal proceedings to substantiate his reason for requesting the postponement of the trial.

But the Prime Minister's Office later issued a statement saying that Muhyiddin was to meet yesterday only with the chief secretary of government and heads of government agencies, and that he had no scheduled meetings with political leaders yesterday.

After the Prime Minister's Office statement, the High Court yesterday afternoon called the case to be mentioned in the afternoon to seek clarification on the matter.

Yesterday afternoon, the prosecution charged Zahid with lying openly and intentionally deceiving the court to obtain a day off, urging the court to initiate contempt proceedings against Zahid for allegedly lying to the court.

Zahids' lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told the judge yesterday afternoon that the defense never intended to cheat or mock the court, saying his client had tried to meet Muhyiddin yesterday but could not do so because the Prime Minister was rushing towards Muar, Johor. , and that he instead met with Muhyiddins' help.

Yesterday afternoon, Zahid also told the court that he had received a letter from the Prime Minister's office asking him to show up around 12:30 p.m. for a discussion.

Yesterday was originally scheduled to be the 19th day of the Ahmad Zahids trial involving 47 counts of alleged bribery, breach of trust and money laundering, the prosecution said yesterday morning that it was ready. to continue his trial with five prosecution witnesses ready to testify.

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