KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has maintained that his deputy Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi deserves the chance and 'fairness' of being tried before an independent and impartial court.
Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Umno president, is the first senior minister to sit in the dock to face multiple corruption charges involving RM31 million of his foundation Yayasan Akalbudi's (YAB) funds.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore on Monday, Anwar said he had made it very clear that the courts must be independent and he would not prejudge Zahid's case.
"I am not here to discuss his case. I am here to suggest that the court process must be independent and that he must be given a chance — the fairness to be adjudicated by an independent, impartial court," he said.
The full transcript of the Q and A session was published today at www.bloomberg.com.
During the interview, Anwar also told off Zahid's detractors as there were also other political leaders who were facing accusations of abusing their positions when they were members of the Cabinet during the previous federal administration.
"He (Zahid) has been investigated and charged... is undergoing trial and the court should decide independently. I made (it) very clear that the courts are independent and I do not think I should prejudge the case.
"But it shouldn't be just purely political.
"Why refer to him (Zahid) personally when I've said that the system is corrupt. There's so many other political leaders who have been abusing their positions: Former prime ministers, former finance ministers, by the hundreds and millions of dollars," Anwar was quoted in the interview.
Anwar declined to comment when asked what would happen to his unity government administration in the event Zahid is found guilty of his on-going corruption charges.
"Let us move on. We have to work from day one, to ensure that the system that we have has good governance.... is free from corrupt leaders.
"And I think to be fair, they have observed these rules now.
"There's not one trace I can find from any of my team now trying to squander (money) through contracts or projects and I'm fine with that. People should judge me from (based on the performance of his administration) the last two months," he said.
Zahid, who is the Bagan Datuk member of parliament, 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, Zahid 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.