Isa at the High Court. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday ruled that there was no evidence showing that Muhammad Zahid Md Arip, the former special political aide to Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, had conspired with other individuals to share the RM3 million bribe and persecute the former Felda chairman.
The individuals are the 15th prosecution witness (SP15) former chief executive officer of Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FICSB) Mohd Zaid Abdul Jalil; former board member of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd (GAPSB) Ikhwan Zaidel (SP16) and shareholder and director of JV Evolution Sdn Bhd (JVESB) Azizi Abdul Wahab (SP17).
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali in his judgment said there was no evidence to show that Muhammad Zahid who is the 21st prosecution witness (SP21) had a motive to abuse the accused’s position to solicit bribes from Ikhwan for himself.
“Furthermore, why would SP16 hand over more than RM3 million to SP21 who is only the accused’s special aide and does not have any authority in the purchase of Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) from GAPSB by FICSB, including in terms of negotiations, approvals and payments?
“There is no reasonable excuse for SP17 and SP16 as the businessmen who benefit from FICSB’s consent and approval on the purchase of MPHS from GAPSB to plan to cheat and persecute the accused.
“In addition, the source of the bribe was from the payment for MPHS purchase by FICSB to GAPSB which has enabled SP16 to pay JVESB the promised commission for its role as an agent,” he said.
Mohd Isa was today sentenced to a total of 54 years in prison and a fine of RM15.45 million, in default 18 years’ jail, after the court found him guilty of nine counts of corruption involving RM3 million over the agency’s purchase of Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) in Kuching, Sarawak.
The 71-year-old former Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan was sentenced to six years’ jail on each count of the charges but only has to serve six years in prison after the judge ordered the prison sentences to be served concurrently.
The judge said the court found the narrative raised by the defence that the bribe was actually a result of a conspiracy by SP15, SP17, SP16 and SP21 to be used as ‘political funds’ which were actually misappropriated by those who conspired to share it and persecute the accused, had no merit at all.
“The court cannot accept this theory. There was no evidence, including by defence witnesses, who hinted that this had actually happened,” he said.
The judge said the accused had, in his oral testimony, mentioned new things about his former political aide making a confession that he had implicated the accused.
“According to the accused, it occurred not once, but twice. It was obvious to the court that these matters were not asked to SP21 at the prosecution stage. No questions were asked to SP21 about him being depressed while being detained under remand at the allegedly haunted old building of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“More importantly, the defence did not even ask SP21 about what he confessed to the accused on Jan 28, 2018, when the accused attended the funeral of SP21’s uncle and SP21 apologised to the accused for allegedly implicating the accused and promised to correct the statement given to MACC,” he said.
Judge Mohd Nazlan also said that Muhammad Zahid was not even asked about the second meeting at the MACC building where the accused reminded him to correct his statement before the matter was taken to court and that he promised to do so.
“It should also be taken into account that the accused never questioned SP21 that the conversation at the MACC had been heard by a lawyer named Bakar and the accused’s wife, but the accused did not call them as defence witnesses to support his testimony.
“Although SP21 is said to have implicated and agreed but failed to correct his statement to the MACC, the accused still did not at any time report the SP21 confession to the MACC investigating officer.
“This is odd because the accused was remanded for eight days in August 2017 and investigated by the MACC. Two meetings with SP21 took place in 2018 before he was charged in court in December 2018, but the accused did not directly provide this information to the MACC which may (if true) help himself. He just didn’t.
“This is very difficult to understand because the second meeting is said to have taken place at the MACC office and that the confession by SP21 is said to have been heard by an accused lawyer himself. The excuse given by the accused that hat has no chance to do it is very weak, unreasonable and unacceptable at all,” the judge said.
Judge Mohd Nazlan said the accused’s allegation about the two meetings in which Muhammad Zahid was said to have confessed to the accused was a very important specific detail and should have been raised at the prosecution stage.
“Therefore, the court found the accused’s defence a mere afterthought and a fabrication.
“After examining all these evidence, the court found no justification for not believing the SP21 evidence which the court found to be consistent and in line with not only the testimony of other witnesses but also the overall situation and circumstances of this case,” he said.
According to the judge, Mohd Isa’s involvement in ‘requesting’ for the bribe by telling Muhammad Zahid to accept anything that might be given by Ikhwan was done immediately after the approval of the purchase of MPHS and the appreciation visit by Ikhwan and GAPSB board member, Ibrahim Baki.
“The bribe ‘request’ was then activated by the accused’s ‘kiriman salam’ (greetings) to Ikhwan through Muhammad Zahid. The first time, it happened as soon as the MPHS sale and purchase agreement was signed and after the accused signed the payment order of RM160 million or 10 per cent of the MPHS purchase price to GAPSB.
“This was followed by similar ‘greetings’ for the next eight requests. Except for matters related to the dates of the incidents and the amount of money involved, in each of the nine situations, it was the accused who gave the signal to Muhammad Zahid to convey his ‘greetings’ to Ikhwan,” he said.
On the issue of money, Judge Mohd Nazlan said money issued by JVESB was sourced from the commission payment promised and paid by GAPSB to JVESB on the purchase of MPHS.
He said in each of the nine situations, Muhammad Zahid also handed over the money to the accused when he met the accused at the Felda chairman’s office.
“The court found all these evidence irrefutable by any statements from the defence witnesses,” he said.
The judge said the court also found it true that no one witnessed the accused accepted the money handed over by Muhammad Zahid, even for one of the nine charges.
“It has been explained before, Muhammad Zahid himself stated about the secrecy of this matter and that no one knows about the handing over of money to the accused. The accused himself agreed when questioned that it was unreasonable for Muhammad Zahid to bring and hand over the money to him when there were staff near the accused’s office.
“The testimony of his former secretary, Zuraida Ariffin @ Shaari and former special officer, Kamar Bashah Shariff also did not help in the accused’s defence. Muhammad Zahid’s testimony was also supported by the testimony of the bribe giver himself, namely Ikhwan, who clearly stated that money was meant to be handed over by Muhammad Zahid to the accused.
“There is no doubt about the source of the cash, which is Ikhwan’s own money for the first charge and cash withdrawal at Maybank Jelapang Branch by Azizi which was also witnessed by Maybank Jelapang Branch Manager, Yahya Mansur, for the other eight corruption charges,” said the judge.
He said after evaluating all evidence and testimonies in the trial, the court found that the defence had failed to remove the assumption under Section 50 of the MACC Act on the balance of probability that the acceptance of money by the accused as in the nine charges was done as an inducement to help approve the purchase of MPHS.
“The accused’s defence is an afterthought, consistent and a mere denial without solid or credible support. The court also found that the defence in the overall context of the evidence in this case also failed to raise any reasonable doubt.
“The prosecution has thus succeeded in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt in all nine charges of accepting bribes against the accused. Therefore, the accused was found guilty and convicted of all nine charges under Section 16 (a) (A) of the MACC Act,” he said. — Bernama