SHAH ALAM, Oct 11 — The High Court here today freed two self-employed individuals of corruption charges and quashed their conviction and sentences imposed by the Sessions Court two years ago.
Justice Datuk Ghazali Cha in allowing the appeal by Azman Annhar, 47, and Latifah Mahfodz, 48, said the prosecution should have called Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed to testify, as his name had been cited by some of the witnesses in the trial.
“The prosecution had put its case at a disadvantage by failing to call Abu Kassim to give evidence,” he held.
The duo was convicted for two charges of soliciting and accepting a RM10,000 bribe in 2010.
They were sentenced to one year’s jail and fined RM50,000 or another five months’ jail each, for soliciting RM10,000 from Adnan Abd Mokhtar, 44, purportedly to bribe Hulu Langat Land enforcement personnel and the MACC against taking action against him for carrying out illegal sand dredging at a government reserve at Bukit Enggang, Hulu Langat.
Azman and Latifah were sentenced to one year’s jail and fined RM50,000 or another five months’ jail each for accepting RM10,000 from Nur Aida Arifin, 27, for the same purpose.
Sessions Court Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah in convicting the duo on October 10, 2011 had ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Counsel Rusli Zain and Feisal Mustafa represented the appellants while deputy public prosecutor Roziza Sidek from the MACC represented the respondent. — Bernama
