A company director has claimed trial to offering bribes amounting to RM7.5 million as inducement for a then minister to expedite a proposed sale of shares and a concession takeover from Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd.
Hydroshoppe managing director Abdul Hamid Shaikh Abdul Razak Shaikh, whose company had taken over the concession for the maintenance of the KL Tower, was charged with offering RM500,000 a year for 15 years to former communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa through MyCreative Ventures director Tan Ser Lay.
According to the charges under Section 16(b)(B) of the MACC Act read before Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin, the offer was made between July and August last year at the Communication and Multimedia Ministry in Putrajaya.
Suzana set bail at RM50,000 and asked Hamid (above) to report to the MACC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur once every two months, beginning May, until the trial is over.
He was also told to surrender his passport to the court.
The court then set June 2 for the re-mention of the case.
Previously, the MACC was reported to have investigated allegations over the suspicious sale of shares and the takeover of KL Tower maintenance concession from Menara Kuala Lumpur, a company wholly owned by Telekom Malaysia.
Separately in a different court, Hydroshoppe was charged under Section 17(A)(1)(a) for the same offence, with Hamid as the director claiming trial on behalf of the company.
Magistrate Rozina Ayob allowed a separate sum of RM50,000 in bail, with the same conditions as the previous charge.
Previously, Telekom Malaysia said it decided not to continue holding the concession to manage the KL Tower, so as to focus on its core business, which is telecommunication services. – Malaysiakini