KOTA KINABALU: The Special Corruption Court today withdrew three bribery charges against a civil servant following his death.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat made the decision in regards to Athanasius John Malis, 59, at the request of the prosecution from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The court was informed that the accused had died on June 7. His death certificate was tendered in court.
All three charges against Athanasius were then withdrawn, and he was discharged and acquitted from the charges.
The court further ordered bail to be refunded to the bailor and the accused's passport to be returned. All other conditions of bail were also withdrawn.
Athanasius had pleaded not guilty to all the charges on April 20 last year. He was released on bail pending the disposal of his case.
On the first count, he was accused of obtaining RM15,000 as deposit from the total RM60,000 payment from a man as an inducement to change a land status from "countryside zone" to "residential zone" without the permission from the Town and Country Planning Central Board and City Hall.
He was accused of committing the offence at the Karamunsing Complex here at 9.50am on Sept 5, 2019.
On the second and third charges, Athanasius was accused of obtaining RM15,000 and RM45,000 for the complete amount of the said payment from the same man, as a reward for changing and amending the land status.
The offence allegedly occurred at a car park in Jalan Tuaran Karamunsing at 8.30am on Sept 12, 2019 and at a car park at Medan Selera D'Riverside, Sadong Jaya, here, at 11.25am on Nov 20, 2019.
Deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah prosecuted while counsel Dominic Chew represented Athanasius.