Ex-Melaka PWD director jailed 22 years, fined RM36mil for money laundering

MELAKA: Former Melaka Public Works Department director Datuk Khalid Omar was sentenced to 22 years in jail and fined RM36mil for various counts of offences relating to money laundering and corruption involving over RM5.4mil.

Sessions Court judge Mohd Nasir Nordin ordered the sentence to run concurrently from date of sentencing and granted a seven-day stay of execution for the defendant to file an appeal to the High Court.

Khalid, 58, was accused of 18 counts of charges for money laundering and bribery.

He faced five charges under Section 14 (1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

Based on the statement of facts, Khalid was accused of committing five counts of money laundering when he had in possession of RM206,396.16 in Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB2), RM506,735.92 in Tabung Haji account, RM375,200 cash, RM1,984,797.08 in Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW2020) and RM2,135,634.13 in Amanah Saham Didik (ASD) accounts.

Former Melaka PWD director Datuk.Khalid Omar leaving the Sessions Court.

Khalid was accused of committing the offences between Sept 1, 2015 to Aug 15, 2016 at various locations here where he could face a total of 15 years jail term and fined five times of the amount or net value of the possession or RM5mil, whichever is higher.

For 13 other bribery offences under Section 165 of the Penal Code (Act 574), Khalid, as a civil servant then, was accused of accepting a bribe amounting to RM196,200 via 13 transactions from eight companies and individuals from March 2014 to August 2016 at various locations here.

Earlier, in mitigation, Khalid's counsel Datuk Baljit Singh appealed to the court for a minimal sentence in view that his client had served the government for 34 years without any disciplinary problem during his career.

However, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) prosecution officers Ahmad Akram Gharib and Mohd Khairulazaman Ghazali told the court the sentencing should serve as a deterrent to other civil servants from abusing their positions and the case was of public interest.

The court also ordered Khalid to be jailed for another five months if he failed to settle the fine while maintaining the bail of RM250,000, which was imposed when he was first charged.