KLANG: The chairman of a non-profit organisation has been detained for allegedly soliciting a RM1 million bribe to "settle" a murder case.

The case involved the murder of Chinese national, Xu Jian Huang, four years ago.

Xu, who was a student at the Mutiara International Grammar School, was found dead in a bungalow in Jalan Mengkuang, off Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur on Sept 26, 2004.

His uncle, businessman Koh Kim Teck and his two bodyguards Resty Agpalo and Mohamad Najib Zulkfli, were charged with the murder, but were acquitted. The case is now pending at the Court of Appeal.

Anti-Corruption Agency sources said the 57-year-old suspect in the bribery case was arrested after he allegedly collected the first payment of RM500,000.
The cheque was given to the suspect at the Selangor Coast Club, Jalan Kapar here about 4pm on Wednesday. ACA officers moved in after the suspect took the cheque.

It is learnt that the suspect had earlier made arrangements for the victim's father, Xu Jian Lai, to come to Malaysia to follow the court proceedings.

Jian Lai had also come here to conduct prayer sessions for his son. On several occasions, he also held press conferences urging the authorities to bring his son's killers to book. It is now learnt that the suspect had organised all his trips to Malaysia.

Sources also said that the suspect had got in touch with one of the murder suspects and offered to "settle" the case for a fee of RM1 million.

The suspect was produced at the Klang magistrate's court yesterday where magistrate Zanifah Zainal Abidin ordered that he be held in remand until May 21.

A year after the boy's murder, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Musa acquitted Koh, Resty and Mohamad Najib Zulkifli without their defence being called, citing unresolved doubts and unanswered questions in the prosecution's case.

The appeal, however, was postponed at least four times since it began in March last year after Koh failed to present himself in court.

In a hearing on Oct 30 last year, Koh's counsel Datuk V. Sithambaram presented a medical certificate from his client stating that he was hospitalised in China.