High Court acquits two Aker Engineering officials

KUALA LUMPUR: Two senior officers of Aker Engineering Malaysia have been acquitted by the High Court here over charges of cheating and using a false document.

In his ruling yesterday, High Court judge Justice Muhammad Jamil Hussin found the charges against Aker Engineering Malaysia senior vice-president Ahmad Hatta Kamaruzzaman and director Mohd Yusof Ab Rahman to be baseless and defective.

Ahmad Hatta was accused of cheating by making false representations involving the company’s ownership status while Mohd Yusof was charged with using a false document to procure a renewal licence from an oil and gas company.

In the case of Ahmad Hatta, who was charged with misleading the Registrar of Companies, Justice Muhammad Jamil said he was accused of an offence that was not legislated by law. “The court finds that Ahmad Hatta’s ground (in his application) that the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) was never misled, is with merit.

“His application to strike out the charge is allowed,” he said.

On the charge against Mohd Yusof, Justice Muhammad Jamil said he was charged under Section 471 of the Penal Code based on an action committed by another person, Wan Suet Yin.

The judge said the provision did not allow another person to be charged for another individual’s action.

Deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) appeared for the prosecution while lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad represented both the applicants.

After the proceedings at the High Court, both the prosecution and the defence informed the two Sessions Courts that presided over the trials of Ahmad Hatta and Mohd Yusof of the ruling.

Sessions Court judges Azura Alwi and Rozina Ayob recorded the order by the High Court. They also ordered for the bail of RM10,000 each to be returned to Ahmad Hatta and Mohd Yusof.

On June 11 last year, Ahmad Hatta claimed trial to a charge of submitting documents with intent to cheat a local oil and gas company to enlist Syarikat Aker Engineering Malaysia as a company with bumiputra status.

According to the charge sheet, he allegedly cheated by hiding the company’s ownership status whereby its actual beneficiary was Aker Solutions Group.

Ahmad Hatta, 50, was charged with committing the offence in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 7, 2018, under Section 417 of the Penal Code and faces a maximum of five years in jail or fine or both, if convicted.

On Jan 26, Mohd Yusof claimed trial to a charge of forging the document titled Annual Return of a Company Having Share Capital Aker Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd 2017.

He was charged under Section 471 of the Penal Code and faces a maximum of two years in jail or a fine or both, if convicted.