After failing to strike out three corruption and six money laundering charges at the Court of Appeal, Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has made another representation to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
Deputy public prosecutor Nik Haslinie Hashim said the latest court representation was sent on Monday (Sept 5), the same day the Court of Appeal rejected Abdul Azeez’s application to cancel nine charges against him.
“The representation was received by the prosecution (but) it has not been brought to the attention of the AG.
“Even though the issues submitted were the same as in the earlier representation, the prosecution needs to obtain instructions from the AG,” she said during mention of the case before Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi here on Wednesday (Sept 7).
Lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, representing the Baling MP, confirmed that his firm had sent a representation to cancel the nine charges as a follow-up to previous representations, and it contained the same facts.
“I understand that they (the prosecution) are still studying the representation.
“Therefore, we are asking for a mention date to be set to get feedback regarding the progress of the representation.
“We are also ready if the court wants to set a date for resumption of the hearing if the representation is not accepted,” he said.
Azura set Sept 23 for the mention of the case to know the status of the representation and will set a new hearing date if it is rejected.
Outside court later, Amer Hamzah told the media that the defence team had submitted the representation for the fifth time.
On Monday, Abdul Azeez failed at the Court of Appeal to overturn the three charges of corruption and six charges of money laundering he was facing.
A three-judge panel consisting of Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali rejected Abdul Azeez’s appeal to quash the nine charges after ruling that the charges against him were not defective and ordered the trial of the case in the Sessions Court to continue.
However, the panel allowed the appeal of the former Tabung Haji chairman to cancel four charges of money laundering.
Abdul Azeez, 55, is facing three charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM5.2mil and six charges of money laundering in the amount of RM972,414.60, in relation to road projects in Perak and Kedah.
All the acts were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak; Maybank Islamic Bhd, Jalan Maarof in Bangsar Baru; Affin Bank at Jalan Raja Chulan; and Affin Bank in Pusat Bandar Puchong and Kampung Attap between Sept 6, 2010 and April 10, 2018.
Abdul Azeez is charged under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and Section 28(1)(c) of the same Act punishable under Section 24(1) which provides for a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe upon conviction.
For the charges of money laundering, the accused is charged in accordance with Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 which is punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act.
The trial began on Aug 19, 2020 with seven prosecution witnesses called to testify.