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KUALA LUMPUR: Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption trial in the High Court here has been postponed again as he has been issued a stay-at-home order after being in close contact with a person who tested positive for Covid- 19.
“It is better to err on the side of caution because it involves health problems,” Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said in allowing attorney Hamidi Mohd Noh’s request for postponement this morning.
The next hearing is October 12.
Hamidi said his client received the three-day home surveillance order on Saturday from Health Ministry officials.
“A swab test was taken and it turned out to be negative,” he told the court, adding that the second RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test would be performed today.
He said the test results were expected tomorrow.
The lawyer urged that the scheduled hearing be postponed from today until Wednesday, as the incubation period (the time between exposure to the virus and the appearance of symptoms) for Covid-19 was 14 days.
He said it was best to take extra precautions as there were other defense attorneys, assistant prosecutors (DPP), judicial staff and the public in the courtroom.
DPP Raja Rozela Raja Toran did not object to the postponement.
Umno’s chief information officer, Shahril Sufian Hamdan, had confirmed on September 23 that he tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from Sabah, and Zahid was said to be in contact with him.
The trial was overturned last Monday because Zahid was said to have been campaigning in Sabah together with Umno Supreme Council member Mohd Razlan Rafii two weeks ago.
He went through similar tests last week and was acquitted.
Zahid faces 12 counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering, for a total of RM117 million.
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