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KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court will rule on February 3 if former Felda chairman Isa Samad is guilty of corruptly receiving some RM3 million from the purchase of a hotel in Kuching six years ago.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali set the date after hearing oral presentations from the defense and the prosecution.
The trial began on October 7 of last year when the prosecution called 15 witnesses and the defense six.
On June 16, Nazlan ordered Isa to come to his defense on nine counts of corruption, but acquitted him of one count of breach of trust.
On the corruption charges, Isa, who is also the oldest Negeri Sembilan menteri besar (1982-2004), is accused of receiving RM3.09 million in bribes for approving the RM160 million purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel.
The offense is covered by Section 16 (a) (A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and offenders can be imprisoned for up to 20 years and fined five times the amount of the bonus.
Attorney Salehuddin Saidin told the court today that the defense rebutted the presumption under Section 50 of the MACC Act that the RM3 million Isa allegedly received was corrupt money.
“The defendant has denied receiving such money and underwent cross-examination by the prosecution. Five other witnesses testified to support Isa’s argument, ”he said.
Salehuddin said that Isa’s testimony must be takan to be more credible and to create a doubt in the case of the prosecution and his client was entitled to an acquittal.
The lawyer said that Muhammad Zahid Mat Arip, who was Isa’s special officer and prosecution witness, had collected the money nine times from Ikhwan Zaidel, the then director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd, who owns the hotel.
“Zahid raised the money for himself and his followers (kuncu-kuncu),” Salehuddin said, adding that Zahid was also an interested witness who was once arrested by the MACC for questioning.
Additionally, he said that Isa’s former secretary, Zuraidah Ariffin @ Shaari, told the court that she never saw Zahid carry a paper bag to Isa’s office.
The lawyer said her evidence was supported by the testimony of Isa’s special officer, Kamar Bashah Shariff, as both would always be in the defendant’s office.
Bashah said that he usually carried Isa’s belongings, from clothes to documents, when Isa went to work, as well as packing items to take home at the end of the day.
Zahid had told the court that he turned over the money worth RM3 million through nine meetings with Isa at his office on Level 49 of Menara Felda, with the money placed in a paper bag and a black bag.
Salehuddin said that Zuraidah and Bashah were offered up for defense as the prosecution did not put them on the witness stand.
“Their testimonies must be accepted as true because they must be similar to the statements given to the MACC during the investigations. Otherwise. the credibility of both would have been challenged by the prosecution, “he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz said the money was handed over to Isa in the absence of Zuraida and Bashah.
“It was done discreetly,” he said, adding that Zahid was the conduit between the defendant and Ikhwan.
Afzainizam said that the task of the prosecution was to show that Isa received the money with corrupt intent and not where he kept it and what it was used for.
He said that Zuraida and Bashah were excluded because they were not material witnesses to establish a prima facie case against Isa.
Afzainizam said Isa also used the name of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak to influence the board of Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FICSB) to buy the hotel at an inflated price.
He said that two other defense witnesses, Mohamad Jani Ismail and Dahalan Tunggal, had prepared identical legal statements that Zahid was the beneficiary of RM3 million to bolster Isa’s defense.
