PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on the appeals of former Rural and Regional Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mohd Arif Ab Rahman and his son Ahmad Zukhari against their convictions and prison sentences for bribery.
The appeals were heard before a three-judge bench consisting of Justices Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, Datuk Lim Chong Fong and Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan on Tuesday (Oct 22).
Justice Vazeer is now a Federal Court judge.
Following the completion of submissions from both parties and after a brief deliberation, the court opted to reserve its decision and set Nov 7 for case management to fix the new decision date.
Lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, representing Arif, told reporters that the judges require more time to arrive at their decision.
During the proceedings, Hisyam argued that there was no credible evidence to prove Arif had abetted his son in the offence.
The lawyer contended that there was prejudice against Arif because the Sessions Court judge applied an incorrect presumption under Section 50 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009.
DPP Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin asserted that the prosecution based its case on circumstantial evidence, relying on the testimony of its witness Datuk Mohd Safian Mohd Salleh.
He said Safian testified that Ahmad Zukhari told him that his father (Arif) would be transferred to the ministry and could "keep an eye on” the project in question.
Wan Shaharuddin said this was not coincidental, as the first appellant (Arif) was indeed transferred to that ministry and he had also informed his son that the "job is on the way”.
On Nov 14, 2018 a Sessions Court found Arif, 67, guilty of abetting his son's receipt of S$200,000 (RM627,833) from Syarikat Wazlina Sdn Bhd director Mohd Safian.
He was charged with accepting the money as gratification and an inducement to secure a hybrid solar system project in four remote islands off Sandakan worth RM57.5mil, which was awarded to Syarikat Eramaz (M) Sdn Bhd, an associate company of Syarikat Wazlina.
The Sessions Court sentenced him to a three-year jail term and fined him RM3mil in default three years' imprisonment.
Ahmad Zukhari, 42, a businessman, was sentenced to five years’ jail and fined RM9.6mil in default 10 years’ jail after the Sessions Court found him guilty of four counts of soliciting and accepting bribes in respect of several projects involving the ministry in 2016.
They lost their appeals which were dismissed by the High Court on March 23, 2021, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Lawyers M. Athimulan and Datuk Rajpal Singh represented Ahmad Zukhari. DPP Norzilati Izhani Zainal@Zainol also appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
