KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has dismissed claims by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that court charges against the latter were made “in a hurry”.
Ahmad Zahid told the former prime minister not to practise “double standards”, saying that the opposition, when in power, had hastily pressed charges against him before investigations were fully completed.
“When it happens to them (being charged), it is considered ‘done in a hurry’. However, when I got charged, they (the opposition which was the government then) said the charges were made after ‘a very comprehensive investigation’.
“The reality is that when you have committed a wrong, after an investigation has been conducted, the Attorney General’s Chambers have the powers to charge you in court.
“I was previously charged before the investigations were concluded. That was why when I was being charged, amendments were made to the charges.
“When I am the one being charged, they say ‘the government is fair’. When it hits them (the opposition), they say ‘the government is not fair’. Do not practise double standards,” said Ahmad Zahid to the media after officiating at the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Technical Seminar at the World Trade Centre here Tuesday (Aug 27).
He was responding to statements from Muhyiddin and other Perikatan leaders who said that the charges against the Bersatu president were done hurriedly and politically motivated.
In April 2022, Ahmad Zahid was charged in court over criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering charges but walked free in September last year after he was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for 47 graft charges.
Earlier today, Muhyiddin was charged with sedition at the Gua Musang Sessions Court in Kelantan.
The Pagoh MP claimed trial after the charges were read out to him before Judge Nik Mohd Tarmizie Nik Mohd Shukri.
