KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has found former Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) senior deputy director Sabudin Mohd Salleh guilty on two charges of obtaining bribes amounting to RM200,000 for the issuance of work permits.
Justice K Muniandy made the ruling on Thursday (July 27) after allowing the prosecution’s appeal to set aside a Sessions Court decision on Sept 15 which acquitted Sabudin, 61, of the corruption charges at the end of the defence case.
He fixed Aug 15 to hear mitigation by the accused and for sentencing.
In his judgment, Justice Muniandy said an error of law had been committed by the Sessions judge in misdirecting on the law applicable to the evidence of the third prosecution witness (PW3), Wong May Kuan, who for all intents and purposes shall not be regarded as an accomplice pursuant to Section 52 (1) (a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.
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"Although PW3 was the giver of the bribe, it came about because of the demand made by the accused for sponsorship when PW3 went to see him to complain despite not having obtained the contract for work as yet.
"Thus, the finding by the Sessions Court judge is not supported by evidence, and the decision made is against the weight of evidence.
"This court found that there was no proper judicial evaluation of the evidence,” he said, adding that PW3's attendance at the wedding reception of the accused’s son only made it more probable for the accused to have known PW3.
Justice Muniandy said the payment made was for the work contract awarded to PW3, proved by the existence of salient contract documents like the work permit and certificate of progress payments which obtained the approval of the accused.
He said appellate intervention was justified for the High Court to correct the lower court's decision on appeal.
"This court decides to allow the appeal by the prosecution, thus setting aside the order of discharge and acquittal and substituting it with a finding of guilty and conviction on the two charges preferred against the accused under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act pursuant to Section 316 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.
On Dec 18, 2020, the Sessions Court acquitted Sabudin of the two charges at the end of the prosecution's case.
However, Sabudin was ordered to enter his defence on both charges after the High Court allowed the prosecution's appeal to set aside the Sessions Court ruling on March 24 last year.
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On both charges, Sabudin, who was then senior deputy director at the DBKL Civil Engineering and Urban Transport division, was charged with corruptly receiving a bribe of RM200,000 in cash from Wong, a subcontractor of Dusari Niaga that was tasked with grinding and resurfacing works for Kuala Lumpur City Hall for the Year 2018/2020 (2017/A214) as an inducement for him to issue the work permit to the company.
He was charged with committing the offences at a petrol station convenience store at Jalan Lingkaran Tengah 2, Bukit Antarabangsa here, and in front of his residence in Ukay Perdana, Ampang, on June 9, 2018 and Jan 17, 2019 respectively.
The charges were framed under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act which provides imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe involved, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
The prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin while lawyer K Theivaendran represented Sabudin. – Bernama
