Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar has filed a notice of motion seeking leave to appeal to the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal ruling that permitted the Malaysian Bar to challenge the prosecution’s decision to discontinue proceedings against Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case [1, 2, 3, 4].

The Court of Appeal decision on May 7, 2026, set aside the High Court ruling dated June 27, 2024, which had dismissed the Malaysian Bar’s judicial review application and upheld the Attorney General’s decision to grant Zahid a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on 47 charges related to criminal breach of trust, corruption, and money laundering [1, 2, 3, 4].

The Malaysian Bar had argued that the DNAA was null and void. Zahid Hamidi is the second proposed respondent in the case and on May 25, 2026, filed his own separate application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court, raising five questions of law under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 [1, 2, 3, 4].

In the Attorney General’s notice of motion, two key legal issues are raised: whether prosecutorial decisions under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution to discontinue or not to prosecute are subject to judicial review; and whether the two-stage test from Sundra Rajoo Nadarajah v Menteri Luar Negeri [2021] is binding legal precedent. As Mohd Dusuki stated, “The two fundamental legal questions which require authoritative determination by the nation’s highest court concern the amenability of prosecutorial decisions under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution to judicial review, and whether the two-stage test established by the Federal Court in Sundra Rajoo Nadarajah constitutes binding ratio decidendi” [4].

The Attorney General is also seeking a stay of all High Court proceedings pending the outcome of the Federal Court leave application [1, 2, 3, 4].

The dispute dates back to September 4, 2023, when the Attorney General decided to discontinue proceedings against Zahid in the Yayasan Akalbudi case. The High Court upheld this decision on June 27, 2024, but it was overturned by the Court of Appeal on May 7, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4].

The Federal Court has yet to set a date to hear the Attorney General’s application for leave to appeal.