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KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today granted an exoneration that does not amount to an acquittal to former Minister of Federal Territories Tengku Adnan Mansor in his RM1 million corruption case.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali granted the order today when the prosecution told the court that it does not wish to pursue its case against Tengku Adnan due to some “new developments”.
His trial was scheduled to resume today.
The charge against Tengku Adnan, popularly known as Ku Nan, was for allegedly receiving RM1 million from businessman Tan Eng Boon to approve a request from Nucleus Properties Sdn Bhd (now known as Paragon City Development Sdn Bhd) to increase the proportion of industrial plots of a piece of land in Jalan Semarak.
The crime was said to have taken place at the Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) branch of the CIMB on December 27, 2013.
The charge against Tengku Adnan was under Section 24 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act. If convicted, he could have been imprisoned for up to 20 years and fined five times the bonus received.
Previously, the court fined Tan RM1.5 million for bribing Tengku Adnan on an alternative charge for allegedly instigating Tengku Adnan under Section 165 of the Penal Code which carries a two-year prison term, a fine, or both upon conviction. .
Earlier today, Deputy Prosecutor Julia Ibrahim urged the court to issue a “discharge not equal to acquittal” order against Tengku Adnan, as the MACC needed to conduct further investigations into the case.
“We are not sure how long MACC takes to investigate this ‘new development.’
“The prosecution will decide whether to proceed with the charge after the new problem is resolved,” he said.
Defense attorney Tan Hock Chuan said Tengku Adnan should obtain a full acquittal.
“He was charged for the first time in the Court of Sessions on November 15, 2018 and the charge has been hanging over his head for more than two years.
“The prosecution did not indicate the deadline on how long they need to investigate this ‘new development’,” he added.
Tan also said that MACC should have investigated Tengku Adnan’s case before he was charged in court.
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