KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — The Sessions Court here today allowed an application by Hydroshoppe Sdn Bhd director Datuk Abdul Hamid Shaikh Abdul Razak Shaikh to obtain a temporary passport to attend defence and aerospace conferences and exhibitions in Qatar, Singapore and Australia.

Judge Suzana Hussin granted the temporary release of the passport to Abdul Hamid Shaikh, 51, after his counsel, Chetan Jethwani, informed the court that the application was agreed to by both the defence and the prosecution.

“The application has been agreed to by both parties. Therefore, the court allows the applicant’s international passport to be temporarily returned today and to be surrendered to the court on or before Feb 16, 2026.

“Subsequently, the passport will be temporarily released to the applicant on April 15, 2026 and returned to the court on or before June 5, 2026. The applicant is required to attend the case mention on Jan 21, 2026,” she said.

Today’s proceedings were attended by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Elya Amira Habeeb Rahman Muhammad and MACC prosecuting officer Muhamad Taufik Awaludin.

On April 5, 2023, Abdul Hamid Shaikh was charged with offering a bribe through Datuk Tan Ser Lay, 60, as an inducement to then Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa to expedite the takeover process of the management and administration of the Kuala Lumpur Tower concession by the company.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia in Putrajaya between July and August 2022.

The charge was framed under Section 16(b)(B) of the MACC Act 2009 and is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which provides for a sentence of imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Meanwhile, Hydroshoppe was also charged as a commercial organisation with an offence related to the accused’s act of offering the bribe to Tan for the benefit of Annuar, with the same intent, at the same location and during the same period.

The charge was brought under Section 17A(1)(a) of the MACC Act 2009 and is punishable under Section 17A(2) of the same Act, which carries a fine of not less than 10 times the value of the bribe or RM1 million, whichever is higher, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years, or both. — Bernama