KUALA LUMPUR: Top Umno lawyer Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun was charged at the Sessions Court today with two counts of money-laundering in 2014.
He is charged with depositing a total of RM15 million in cheques from Datuk Seri Najib Razak into his law firm’s bank account between April and November of that year.
The Umno legal advisor and disciplinary board member, who is known for handling Najib’s civil cases, pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges read before judge Azman Ahmad.
Clad in a black suit, Hafarizam, 47, looked composed as the charges were read to him in a courtroom packed with staff members and lawyers from his law firm Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak (HWAM), who were on hand to support him.
According to the first charge, Hafarizam had allegedly engaged in depositing proceeds of unlawful activity totalling RM11,500,000 in the form of two AmIslamic Bank Bhd cheques written by Najib into the Client Account of HWAM at CIMB Bank Bhd.
He allegedly committed the offence at CIMB Bank’s PWTC branch at Suite 1, Level 5, Menara Dato’ Onn, Jalan Tun Ismail, here, between April 16, 2014 and Nov 4, 2014.
On the second count, Hafarizam had allegedly committed the same offence by depositing a sum of RM3,500,000 via a cheque written by Najib from the same bank into the same law firm’s bank account.
Hafarizam, who is the managing partner of the law firm, allegedly committed the offence at the same place on Feb 12, 2015.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam proposed RM500,000 bail in one surety, and for the accused to surrender his passport to the court.
Hafarizam’s counsel Hasnal Rezua Merican confirmed that they agreed to the bail amount and the bail condition proposed by the prosecution.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, who appeared for the prosecution, told the court that a case against one Paul Geoffrey Stadlen was registered at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
“A warrant of arrest has been issued and if (Stadlen) is arrested and physically charged in court, we will apply for a joint trial of his case and Hafarizam’s case,” he said.
The judge then allowed the accused RM500,000 bail in one surety for the two charges and ordered him to surrender his passport to the court.
The case will be up for mention on March 25.
Stadlen, a British national who was Najib’s former media advisor, was charged in absentia yesterday with two money-laundering charges involving RM15 million.