KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has claimed that his five meetings with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad from 2018 to 2020 were not to discuss criminal cases against him but were instead to resolve the political issues in the country at that time.
Zahid, 69, claimed that during several of the meetings, Dr Mahathir suggested and urged him to dissolve Umno and for the party’s members (especially MPs and assemblymen) to join Dr Mahathir in Bersatu.
The five meetings were held between June 7, 2018 and February 25, 2020 at several locations, including at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya.
Zahid, who filed a response to Dr Mahathir’s statement, claimed that the meetings with the Langkawi MP were not only attended by himself, but by other Umno Supreme Council members at that time, including Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
Zahid alleged that the meetings were held after Umno grassroot members agitated for change in the party’s direction and also discussed possible cooperation, both in the short and long-term, between Umno and Bersatu.
“At the meetings, however, the defendant (Dr Mahathir) urged me to dissolve Umno and join Bersatu.
“Therefore, the defendant’s claim that I was making an effort to discuss about the criminal cases against me are untrue and baseless,” Zahid alleged in his response filed on May 31.
On May 17, Dr Mahathir alleged in his defence statement that Zahid had voiced his concern over the criminal cases he faced during several meetings they had between 2018 and 2020.
In a lawsuit filed on April 20, Zahid said he was charged at the sessions court here with 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight counts of bribery and 27 counts of money laundering on October 18, 2018 and all charges were on trial at the high court.
Zahid claimed that Dr Mahathir made slanderous statements against him at a Pejuang event in the run up to the 15th Johor state election at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya on February 23, 2022.
The Bagan Datuk MP claimed that defamatory statements made against him implied that he was trying to use shortcuts to resolve or postpone his ongoing criminal cases, as well as using his position and influence to induce Dr Mahathir to intervene in criminal proceedings and interfere with the investigation conducted by enforcement agencies against him.
Zahid also filed an inter-parte motion for an interim injunction seeking that the defendant withdraw the slanderous statements and to stop them from publishing, distributing or circulating the statement or any similar defamatory statements on any social media platform.
Zahid’s counsel, Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman, informed when contacted that the court decided during today’s case management that the inter-parte motion would be heard on July 5. – Bernama, June 17, 2022
