KUALA LUMPUR: The charges against Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin were filed after a very comprehensive investigation, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Deputy Prime Minister was responding to statements from Muhyiddin and other Perikatan Nasional leaders alleging that the charges against the Bersatu president and former prime minister were done hurriedly and politically motivated.
He dismissed such claims while asking Muhyiddin, who is Perikatan chairman, to not practise “double standards”, claiming that the coalition, while in power, had pressed charges against him (Ahmad Zahid) before investigations were completed.
“When it happens to them, it is considered ‘done in a hurry’.
“However, when I was charged (during the Perikatan-ruled government then), they 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 (AGC) has the power to charge you in court.
“I was charged before the investigations were concluded.
“That was why when I was being charged, amendments were made to the charges.
“When I was the one being charged, they say ‘the government is fair’.
“When it hits them, they say the government is not fair.
“Do not practise double standards,” said Ahmad Zahid to the media after officiating the International Social Security Association Technical Seminar at the World Trade Centre here yesterday.
In April 2022, Ahmad Zahid was charged in court over criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering, but walked free in September last year after he was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for 47 graft charges.
Earlier yesterday, Muhyiddin pleaded not guilty at the Gua Musang Sessions Court in Kelantan to a charge of making seditious remarks during the recent Nenggiri state by-election campaign by touching on the credibility of the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
In a Bernama report, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain also said that the investigation and prosecution of Muhyiddin regarding issues of race, religion and royalty (3R) were not conducted hastily.
He said it is the standard procedure to complete the probe into every 3R case within a week.
“The police have previously stated that all 3R investigations will be conducted within seven days.
“We will show the progress of 3R investigations within that timeframe, so it has nothing to do with the issue of being rushed,” he told a press conference after launching the Kampung Angkat Madani programme at Kampung Jenal, Dabong in Kuala Krai of Kelantan yesterday.
“The investigation probably took four days and we sent the investigation papers to the AGC for further action, and the AGC might have taken a day or two or just 24 hours to proceed with the charge,” he added.
