The prosecution and the defence met trial judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah in his chambers before the matter was called up in open court this morning.

In open court later, deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran informed Sequerah the parties agreed to additional common dates for the defence to conduct its case.

“The accused, who is also a deputy prime minister, is present in the dock,” Raja Rozela said.

It was not made known in open court why the trial scheduled to continue today could not proceed.

In addition to April 10 to 13, the other trial dates are from June 12 to 15, July 24 to 27, Aug 1 to Aug 3 and Aug 21 to 24.

On Nov 2 last year, the court had adjourned the trial to Jan 16-19, Jan 30-31, Feb 7-9, March 27-30, April 10-13 and May 15-18.

Lead defence lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the trial dates fixed earlier for January to March had been vacated.

“The trial will resume in April, and the May dates are on. We have also included additional dates from June to August,” he said.

The defence has called six witnesses so far.

Zahid is accused of 47 counts of money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi and accepting bribes for various projects during his tenure as the home minister between 2013 and 2018.

Twelve of the charges are for CBT, eight for corruption and the remaining 27 for money laundering.