Crime & Courts

Decision on Azeez's application to quash his corruption charges postponed [NSTTV]

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here today postponed its judgement of an application by Baling Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim to quash his corruption and money laundering charges.

This after Azeez's lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad told the three men bench that they received replies from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on their representation letter on Monday.

"In their letter, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said he took note of the new facts and evidence raised in our representation letter to them.

"The MACC will brief the Attorney-General Chamber's (AGC) in due cost.

"If the AGC agrees to our representation based on the new facts, there won't be a need for this court to deliver the decision," he said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Aslinda Ahad confirmed that the prosecution would not object to the application (of postponement).

"We can confirm that there are new developments in the investigation and AGC needs more time to review it," she said.

The panel which comprised of Court of Appeal judges Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali fixed Aug 26 as a new date to deliver its decision.

Earlier, the court was not amused with Amer's application to delay its judgement as this is the third time they postponed the case.

"Why has it taken such a long time for the AGC to make its decision?

"You need a whole year to decide? We got a lot of other cases… it is hard for us to fix a new date.

"This is the last postponement… it should not take too long."

Abdul Azeez, 56, had filed the application to strike out the 13 charges on Dec 11, 2020, claiming that the charges were defective, groundless and made in bad faith.

On March 12, last year, High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin dismissed the application ruling that the charges against the accused were not defective and the prosecution against him was in accordance to law.

On Jan 16, 2019, Abdul Azeez was charged with three counts of accepting bribes totalling RM5.2 million in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah as well as 10 counts of money laundering.

For the bribery charges, he is accused of committing the offences at CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8, 2010, and at Affin Bank, Pusat Bandar Puchong in Selangor on June 13, 2017, and April 10, 2018, while the money laundering offences were allegedly committed in the Klang Valley area between March 8, 2010, and Aug 30, 2018.

He was initially charged with his brother, Abdul Latif, 63, who was accused with abetting him (Azeez) in obtaining a RM4 million bribe from Mohammad Redzuan Mohanan Abdullah as gratification to help Syarikat Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd secure road projects through limited tender from the Works Ministry.

The project involved the Pantai Baru Coastal Expressway Project, upgrading works of Federal Road FT005 (Teluk Intan to Kampung Lekir, Perak) valued at RM644,480,000.

However, on Feb 8, last year, Abdul Latif was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) of the abetment charges to become a witness against his brother.

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