KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi failed in his application to have his passport returned permanently to him.
High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah today dismissed Zahid's application.
However, Sequerah allowed for the document to be temporarily returned to Zahid to allow him to apply for a diplomatic passport.
"The federal constitution stipulates that all persons are equal before the law and there shall be no privilege, person or class above the law.
"The court, nonetheless, takes cognisance of the fact that as a deputy prime minister and as a minister, the accused has official duties to perform.
"These duties must not clash with the duty to appear in court, because the court also has its functions to perform.
"I agreed with the prosecution that the accused is entitled to have his passport returned to him upon application for the purposes of applying for diplomatic passport.
"After that, the accused need to return his passport to the court," he said.
Zahid, who is also Umno president, in his application said he was unable to carry out his role as deputy prime minister as he did not have access to the document.
Zahid said he had received a mandate from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to represent him (Anwar) for government administrative matters.
He said for that reason, he needed to be present in and out of the country, which required him to have his passport ready.
Zahid stated this in his application to reclaim his passport, which was seized by the court after he was charged with multiple counts of corruption involving his foundation, Yayasan Akalbudi, a few years ago.
Zahid, 70, is facing 47 charges, including 12 for criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving RM31 million of YAB funds.
For the 12 CBT charges, he is alleged to have used the funds to make payments for personal credit cards, insurance policies and licences for his personal vehicles, remittances to a law firm and contributions to the police football association.
The charge carries a maximum of 20 years' jail, whipping and a fine.