KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Former senior political secretary to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin has filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision to reject his application to transfer five corruption charges from the Sessions Court to the court.
Lawyer Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, representing Shamsul Iskandar, informed Judge Suzana Hussin that his party had filed the application at the Court of Appeal on May 6.
On April 28, High Court Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin rejected the application because it did not meet the requirements under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Asked by Suzana whether the defence intended to apply for the case proceedings to be postponed, Amer Hamzah replied that his party had not yet finalised the matter.
“For now, we are following the existing proceedings and requesting the court to set another date for case management,” he said.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan said her party had submitted documents to the defence, but some of them would be submitted before the trial date was set.
The court then set the case management for June 29.
Shamsul Iskandar, 51, was charged with two counts of agreeing to accept bribes for himself, namely cash amounting to RM140,000 from businessman Tei Jiann Cheing or also known as Albert Tei as an inducement to help Tei’s company obtain approval for a mineral exploration licence in Sabah.
He was also charged with two other counts, namely obtaining for himself a bribe in the form of furniture and electrical goods worth RM14,580.03 and RM22,249 from the same individual for the same purpose.
The offence was allegedly committed at a premises in Jalan Medang Serai, Bukit Bandaraya; at the car park of a hotel in Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin here; as well as at Jalan P14A 1/1, Precinct 14, Putrajaya, between December 7 2023 to January 31 2024, and between November 24 2023 to March 5 2024.
Shamsul Iskandar was also charged with one count of obtaining bribes amounting to RM64,924 which were deposited into Rahmalidya Buyong’s CIMB Bank account for the purpose of paying the rental of a house at Jalan Medang Serai, Bukit Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur from Tei, to assist Tei’s company in obtaining approval for a mineral exploration licence in Sabah.
All charges were brought under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (Act 694) and are punishable under Section 24(1) of the same act, which provides for a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. — Bernama
