KOTA KINABALU: A former Sabah Railway Department chief engineer walked out a free man from the Special Corruption Court here on five counts of money laundering involving RM195,000.
Pensioner Ismail Ahmad, 62, was discharged and acquitted after a full trial.
In his decision, judge Abu Bakar Manat, among others, held that it was unsafe to convict the accused on the said charges.
The court also found that the defence had cast reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case.
The prosecution had called 24 witnesses, while Ismail was the sole witness during his defence in the trial.
Ismail, who was the head of the Civil Engineering Division, was accused of owning money allegedly collected from unlawful activities in his and his son's bank accounts.
He allegedly committed the offences at the Maybank branch in Jalan Perpaduan here and the Maybank branch in Putatan between April 24 and July 14, 2016.
The charges under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 provide for imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the proceeds from the ill-gotten gains, or RM5 million, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Nartiah F. Mirchelle Sambatan prosecuted, while counsels PJ Perira and Dominic Chew represented Ismail.