Businessman goes free after High Court sets aside earlier verdict on 115 fraud charges

IPOH: A 42-year-old businessman has been acquitted of 115 charges of cheating and falsifying documents by the High Court here.

Judge Su Tiang Joo set aside the Sessions Court decision in April last year that sentenced N. Narendran to 10 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

Justice Su in his judgment said the defence had raised reasonable doubt over the prosecution’s case.

“There is a doubt whether the money given by the complainant was pursuant to a medical equipment supply contract to the government hospital, or whether it was pursuant to a friendly loan transaction.

“The conviction was not safe. The appellant’s appeal is allowed and the conviction is set aside. The appellant is set free,” he said on Friday (Jan 28).

Last year Sessions Court judge Norashima Khalid meted out the sentence to Narendran who was accused of cheating one Hafizul Abdul Hamid, 45, of more than RM6.3mil in a fake scheme.

He had allegedly committed the offence between May and December 2015 when he led Hafizul to believe that there was a deal with the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital involving disposable medical equipment.

In 2016, Narendran pleaded not guilty to all the charges under Sections 471 and 420 of the Penal Code.

Narendran was represented by RSN Rayer and S. Meharaj, while the case was prosecuted by deputy public prosecutor Fitri Sadaruddin.