JOHOR BARU: Former Kota Tinggi Member of Parliament Datuk Noor Ehsanuddin Mohd Harun Narrashid pleaded not guilty to two charges of corruption at the sessions court here, today.
For the first charge, Noor Ehsanuddin, who is a former Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) director, is accused of receiving a cash deposit of RM50,000 from Karya Hidayah Sdn Bhd.
He is accused of committing the offence at a Malayan Banking Bhd branch in Kluang on Sept 6, 2013.
For the second charge, the 56-year-old is accused of receiving a piece of land in Mukim Kota Tinggi, measuring 0.1421 hectares, worth RM180,000 from Karya Hidayah.
He is accused of committing the offence at the Kota Tinggi Land Office on March 23, 2014.
For both offences, he was charged under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which carries the penalty of a jail sentence of up to two years, or a fine, or both.
Noor Ehsanuddin, who was represented by Datuk T. Thrichelvam and Vincent Lawrence, pleaded not guilty in front of Judge Kamarudin Kamsun after the charges were read.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Deputy Public Prosecutor Khazrin Haffiz Khalil asked for bail to be set at RM40,000, which was not objected to by the accused’s counsels.
Kamarudin then set bail at RM40,000 in one surety, and fixed March 27 for re-mention of the case.
It was reported yesterday that Noor Ehsanuddin was arrested at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya at 12.40pm.
In a statement, MACC said that the accused is suspected of having used his position at Felda to propose and approve the appointment of a printing company, in which he is believed to have an interest, for the publication works of the 1Suara di Felda newspaper from 2012 to 2015 – a deal valued at RM13 million.