KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior enforcer was charged with misappropriating US$6.94 million seized by the commission four years ago.
Shahrum Nizam Baharuddin, 40, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him before Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin today.
According to the charge sheet, the father of two was accused of criminal breach of trust with monies entrusted to him at the MACC special action branch chief's room between December 17, 2018 and April 9, 2019.
The offence falls under Section 409 of the Penal Code which carries imprisonment of between two to 20 years, whipping and fine.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shahruddin Wan Ladin urged the court not to allow bail as the offence is a non-bailable one.
"This is a very serious case because a large sum of money was involved... nearly RM30 million.
"If the court decides to impose bail, we request RM10 million with three sureties," he said.
Counsel K. Ponnusamy who represented the accused pleaded for minimum bail by stating that his client suffered from slipped disc and nose cancer.
The court did not offer bail and fixed Feb 18 for hearing.
On Sept 20 last year, MACC confirmed that three of its senior officers had been detained to assist investigations into allegations of abuse of power and misconduct in the case of a former head of department of the commission.
It was reported that this happened after reports were lodged against three MACC officers for allegedly stealing confiscated money.
It was reported that former Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation director-general Hasanah Abdul Hamid had tried to reclaim US$6 million (RM25.1 million) in cash that was confiscated from a Cyberjaya apartment after she was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in her criminal breach of trust (CBT) case in April.
Hasanah had claimed that a portion of the cash was missing and was replaced with counterfeit notes, and that she had made a report on the matter.