KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah infrastructure development minister Datuk Peter Anthony has been freed of five counts of money-laundering amounting to RM8.75mil at the Special Corruption Court here.
The former Parti Warisan vice-president, who now heads Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat, was also discharged of abetting a lawyer in committing criminal breach of trust.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat discharged and acquitted Peter after the prosecution from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission informed the court that there were new developments in the case.
Deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah said a letter sent by Peter, seeking that the prosecution drop the charges, had been accepted by the Attorney General.
He asked that Peter be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on all six of his charges.
However, counsel Martin Tommy asked for a discharge and acquittal, which the court agreed to.
In making the decision, Abu said he had considered the submissions from the prosecution and request by the defence counsel.
The court also ordered the bail to be refunded and all the bail conditions to be withdrawn.
Peter was charged with the offences on June 11, 2020. He pleaded not guilty to all.
In the first and second charges under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act, Peter was accused of being indirectly involved in RM1.75mil worth of money laundering on July 25 and receiving RM2mil on Aug 4 in 2014.
His third, fourth and fifth charges were under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.
For these, he was accused of receiving RM500,000 on Sept 5, 2014, RM400,000 on Dec 7, 2015, and RM4.1mil between Nov 20, 2015, and Jan 18, 2016.
