PAS’ Nasharudin Charged with 33 Counts of CBT, Money Laundering

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Former PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa has claimed trial to three charges of money laundering and 30 counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) amounting to slightly over RM4 million at the Shah Alam Sessions Court today.

  • Money spent on, among other things:
  • Paying himself salaries
  • Son’s wedding, college tuition
  • Buying shophouse, car

Nasharudin was charged with three counts of money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla).

Yusof Mat Isa

He was accused of channelling RM302,069.60 to three recipients through a bank account belonging to his company, Wasatiyah Centre For Peace Sdn Bhd.

The funds were Finance Ministry allocations meant for the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), a non-governmental organisation.

The three Amla offences allegedly took place in November and December 2018, about four months after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad ordered an end to GMM’s operations.

Nasharudin was appointed as the NGO’s executive chairperson on Oct 28, 2015, until its last day on July 31, 2018.

The 30 CBT charges under Section 409 of the Penal Code, meanwhile, allegedly took place between 2015 and 2018, involving RM3,721,683.80 in funds linked to Nasharudin’s position as chairperson of Nassar Foundation.

Clad in a white shirt and black blazer, Nasharudin was calm and composed when two court interpreters took about 20 minutes to read out all the charges before judge Rozilah Salleh.

Rozilah allowed bail of RM330,000 for all charges in one surety; and ordered Nasharudin’s international passport to be surrendered to the court.

What Nasharudin is accused of spending money on

Personal gain

Sixteen of the 30 CBT charges pertains to Nasharudin paying himself salaries as Yayasan Nassar chairperson

Nasharudin is accused of paying himself a total of RM321,273.80 from 2015 to 2016. Most of the deposits were for RM20,000.

Yayasan Nassar’s Facebook page states that it is a non-profit organisation which manages matters related to education, to safeguard religious harmony, welfare and local communities.

Currently the page appears to mostly chronicle Nasharudin’s activities.

Meanwhile, Nasharudin also deposited RM26,000 of the foundation’s funds into his personal account in Sept, 2015.

Besides that, Nasharudin is also accused of CBT when he paid Hajj Finance Company Limited founder Shazali Shauf RM30,000 to purchase 25,000 shares in the company.

Haji Finance Company Limited is a Bangladeshi syariah-based non-banking financial institution.

Family

Three of the CBT charges deal with payments made, in his capacity as Yayasan Nassar chairperson, for the benefit of his family.

RM51,000 was spent to cater to his son’s wedding in Aug 2016. Another RM25,756 was paid to KDU University College for a son’s tuition in Feb 2018. The sons were not named in the charge sheets.

Meanwhile, according to the charge sheets, Nasharudin also loaned RM34,000 to his daughter Nusaibah in March 2018.

Buying a shophouse

Nasharudin also spent RM539,640 to buy a shoplot in Bandar Puteri Bangi from Knowledge Vision Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of IOI Properties.

It is unclear what the shophouse was for.

The former PAS deputy president paid RM50,014 for the shophouse’s stamp duty.

Meanwhile, Duadaya Interior Sdn Bhd, which was named as a recipient of RM200,000 in the money laundering charges, is also located in the same neighbourhood as the shophouse.

It is unclear if the two charges are related.

Automotive

Two of the money laundering charges were transfers made to automotive companies.

RM76,569.60 was transferred to Sisma Auto (KL) Sdn Bhd, an authorised dealer and service provider for Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo in Malaysia

RM25,500 was transferred to SMR Performance Sdn Bhd, a workshop in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Research grants

As GMM chief executive officer, Nasharudin is also accused of CBT in channelling RM2.6 million to Wasatiyah Centre for Peace, which the charge sheets say is his company.

The grants were awarded between July and Aug 2018.

It is not clear what research was carried out, if any, as the centre’s website is inaccessible.

However, it recently collaborated with Universiti Utara Malaysia to publish a paper on ‘The role of developmental assets for pro-social behaviour among adolescents in Malaysia’. The research was funded by the centre’s grants.

According to the charge sheets, all three money laundering cases involved GMM funds channelled through the Wasatiyah Centre.