Charges against Musa were baseless, money from donations, political funds, says lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR: The charges against former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman (pic) were baseless as the monies that became the subject matter of the prosecution were from donations and political funds, says Musa’s lawyer.

Amer Hamzah Arshad said the monies were political donations from party supporters, donors, the public and Barisan Nasional or Umno for the purpose of by-elections and the general election, and Sabah Umno’s activities and expenses.

“All of the relevant documents have been provided to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), ” he said in a statement Tuesday (June 9).

On Tuesday, a High Court here granted Musa a discharge and acquittal after the prosecution moved to withdraw the 46 charges of graft and money laundering against him relating to timber concessions in Sabah.

“The political donation did not involve any projects for Sabah, timber concessions and not on a quid pro quo basis at all material times, ” Amer added.

The lawyer said his client has been investigated by two anti-graft bodies, the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC) as well as the MACC, between 2008 and 2011.

Both investigations cleared Musa of any wrongdoing and until today, ICAC has not proceeded with any prosecution against Musa, Amer said.

He said the investigation result and the decision of no further action against Musa has been studied by the then attorney general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, former chief of prosecution division Datuk Seri Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah, former MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohammad and former MACC investigation director Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.

“We believe Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun and the Deputy Public Prosecutors handling this case have studied and considered the application we filed in court objectively by taking into consideration all legal aspects and the interests of justice, ” he added.