Judge wants to start Bung, Zizie's graft trial in September after couple ordered to enter defence

Pic by LOW BOON TAT/THE STAR

KUALA LUMPUR: The corruption trial of Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and his wife Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad is being given priority, says Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob, who wants it to start this month.

Defence lawyers had asked the judge to start the trial in December to enable Bung Moktar, who is Kinabatangan MP, to attend Parliament, which is scheduled to be in session from Oct 3 to Nov 29.

"We have discussed with Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Faridz Gohim Abdullah to start the case in December," Bung Moktar's lawyer M. Athimulan told the court on Thursday (Sept 2).

Rozina however, said that she was looking at resuming the trial in September.

"I'm looking for a September date, I'm giving priority to this case," she said.

Defence lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran objected to this and questioned the necessity of rushing the trial through this year.

He said that there were other clients, such as those facing the death penalty, who should be given priority in court.

He also said that they needed time to prepare, including calling their witnesses and interviewing the witnesses offered by the prosecution.

"We started this case in 2019, this was two and a half years ago. Why is it necessary to rush through this year?

"There are other clients who are equally important such as those facing the death sentence, they should be given priority. All of these cases have been fixed much, much earlier and they should take precedence.

"We can't simply adjourn other cases.

"We also need time to be prepared, we don't want to be accused of not being prepared," he said.

Rozina then insisted that all the parties go through the diary together to set a date for the trial.

The court is currently standing down to fix the date.

Earlier at 3.10pm on Thursday (Sept 2), Rozina had ordered Bung Moktar and Zizie Izette to enter their defence on all three charges of corruption, amounting to RM2.8mil over unit trust investments.

On May 3, 2019, Bung Moktar pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here where he was slapped with three charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM2.8mil to obtain approval for Felcra Berhad to invest RM150mil in Public Mutual unit trusts.

According to the first charge, Bung Moktar, who was then the non-executive chairman of Felcra, was accused of accepting bribes of RM2.2mil in cash from Public Mutual's investment agent, Madhi Abdul Hamid, through Zizie Izette, at Public Bank's Taman Melawati branch here between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.

For the second charge, Bung Moktar is accused of accepting a bribe of RM262,500 in cash from Madhi through the Public Islamic Treasures Growth Fund (PITGF) account number 044797816 registered in the name of Zizie Izette, for a similar purpose.

Bung Moktar is also accused of accepting a bribe of RM337,500 in cash from Public Mutual's investment agent, Norhaili Ahmad Mokhtar, through the Public Ittikal Sequel Fund (PITSEQ) account number 044797824 registered in the name of Zizie Izette.

The two offences were allegedly committed at the same location at 12.16pm and 12.28pm, on June 19, 2015.

Zizie, 44, pleaded not guilty to three charges of abetting her husband in the matter at the same place, date and time.

On May 17, the prosecution closed its case after calling 30 witnesses to testify at the trial which began on Jan 2, 2020.