Friday 29 Mar 2024
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SHAH ALAM: The Shah Alam Sessions Court was yesterday bustling with activity since the morning as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) pressed charges against six people, including a member of parliament (MP), a former Selangor state assemblyman and their aides for various alleged misappropriation of state funds.

Sabak Bernam MP Abdul Rahman Bakri was hit with eight charges of allegedly producing false information to claim state funds totalling RM80,000 or RM10,000 per claim for functions that were purportedly not carried out.

Abdul Rahman was alleged to have made those claims between January and February 2008 when he was Sungai Air Tawar assemblyman.

The Umno representative pleaded not guilty to all charges, which were pressed under Section 11(c) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

Sessions Court Judge Syafeera Mohd Said fixed bail for Abdul Rahman at RM30,000 with one surety.

The judge also fixed Dec 14 for a mention of the case, while Abdul Rahman's trial is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 7 next year.

Abdul Rahman was present in court together with a large group of supporters, as well as eight Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers.

Among the BN MPs present there to lend their support were Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique (Tenggara), Datuk Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong), Datuk Mohamad Shahrum Osman (Lipis) and Salleh Kalbi (Silam).

At a separate Sessions Court here yesterday, Abdul Rahman's former aide, Rosli Bushra, pleaded not guilty when charged with eight counts of abetting Abdul Rahman.

Sessions Court Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah fixed bail for Rosli at RM9,000 with one surety and ordered Rosli to be tried with Abdul Rahman.

Former Teratai assemblyman Yap Soo Sun was also charged here today on seven counts of making false claims amounting to RM70,000 for Chinese New Year and Thaipusam programmes, which allegedly never materialised.

The Gerakan representative pleaded not guilty to all charges, which were pressed under Section 11(c) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

Judge Mat Ghani set bail at RM25,000 and one surety for Yap.

The former state representative's trial is scheduled to run for four days from May 3 next year, while the case is up for mention on Dec 14 this year.

Also taking the dock yesterday was Yap's former aide Mohd Firdaus Abu Zarin, who was charged with conspiring with Yap in making the claims.

Firdaus, a businessman, pleaded not guilty when accused with supplying false invoices dated March 10, 2008, which were used to claim state funds.

The court set Firdaus's bail at RM8,000 with one surety.

MACC's legal affairs and prosecutions director Datuk Abdul Razak Musa also pressed charges against Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri, a former aide to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Yahya pleaded not guilty when charged with allegedly misleading Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd chairman Datuk Abd Karim Munisar to sponsor RM50,000 for Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) "100 days celebration", and for using a false document to open a bank account for PKR.

Judge Syafeera set bail at RM10,000 with one surety for Yahya, who was represented by Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff.

The court is scheduled to hear the first charge against Yahya from April 12 to 16 next year, while Yahya's second charge will be heard between April 19 and 23 next year.

Earlier, Wong Chuan How, who is special officer to Selangor state executive council member Ronnie Liu, was slapped with two charges of criminal breach of trust and one charge of misappropriation of state funds.

He pleaded not guilty to all there charges.

The first charge against Wong was for allegedly using an invoice dated Aug 30, 2008 to claim RM2,500 in state funds for the Sungai Pelek constituency.

The amount was a payment for car flags ordered for Merdeka Day celebrations, which were allegedly not supplied.

Wong was also charged with criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the Penal Code for misappropriating a RM5,000 cheque entrusted to
him.

Trial for the first charge of misappropriation of funds was fixed for March 29 to April 2, 2010 while trial for the second charge of criminal breach of trust is scheduled for April 12 to 16 next year.

Prosecution has lined up nine witnesses for the first charge and seven witnesses for the second charge against Wong.

Judge Syafeera set bail at RM5,000 and one surety for each of the two charges.

Wong also claimed tral at another sessions court here when charged with criminal breach of trust for misappropriating a cheque amounting to RM2,500 under his watch.

Judge Mat Ghani fixed RM5,000 bail and one surety, ordering Wong's trial to run from March 8 to 12 next year.

Wong was represented by counsel Salim Bashir, while the other five were represented Datuk Salehuddin Saidin.

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