The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing on October 8, 2026, to consider Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's application for leave to appeal. Zahid seeks to block the High Court from hearing the Malaysian Bar’s judicial review challenging his discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on 47 criminal charges related to graft and money laundering in the Yayasan Akalbudi case [1, 2].
The Malaysian Bar filed the judicial review in 2023 to contest the Attorney General’s decision to discontinue all 47 charges against Zahid under the DNAA, which was granted on September 4, 2023, by High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah. The DNAA means the charges can be reinstated in the future [1, 3, 4, 2].
Originally, the High Court dismissed the Malaysian Bar’s leave application in June 2024, ruling the AG acted lawfully in withdrawing the charges [1, 4, 2]. However, on May 7, 2026, the Court of Appeal overturned that dismissal and reinstated the Bar’s judicial review application, sending the case back to the High Court for a full hearing on the merits [1, 4, 2].
Following the Court of Appeal decision, Zahid filed his leave application to the Federal Court on May 25, 2026, seeking to appeal the ruling that allowed the judicial review to proceed [2]. The Attorney General also filed a separate leave application raising constitutional questions on prosecutorial discretion under Article 145(3) [2]. Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi said the apex court appeal would address the test for judicial review on prosecutorial discretion [3].
As the Federal Court prepares to hear Zahid’s application, the High Court has adjourned the Malaysian Bar’s judicial review proceedings pending the appeal outcome [3, 4, 2]. A case management session to update the High Court on Federal Court proceedings is set for October 12, 2026 [3, 4, 2].
Malaysian Bar representative Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan urged the court to await the outcome of the Federal Court application before proceeding. "We ought to wait until the legal application has been disposed of before proceeding with this application. Therefore, we are seeking an adjournment of today’s proceedings," she said [2].
