PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged former Rural and Regional Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mohd Arif Ab Rahman of abetting his son in a S$200,000 bribery case related to a rural electricity supply project in Sandakan nine years ago.
In a unanimous decision yesterday, a three-member panel led by Federal Court judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, alongside Court of Appeal judges Lim Chong Fong and Azizul Azmi Adnan, allowed Mohd Arif’s appeal to quash his three-year jail term and RM3mil fine.
However, the court upheld the conviction against his son, Ahmad Zukhairi, on four counts of soliciting and receiving bribes amounting to S$200,000 in connection with several projects involving the ministry in 2016.
Justice Vazeer Alam reduced the jail term from five years to four on all four charges, while the RM9.6mil fine was maintained, Bernama reported.
“As for the 10-year prison sentence in default of fine payment, it will be reduced to six years,” he ruled.
Reading the judgment, Justice Azizul Azmi said the circumstantial evidence against Mohd Arif, 68, was not sufficient to prove his culpability.
He said the evidence as a whole did not support the act of abetment and the evidence presented by the DPP could not be considered abetment under Section 16 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.
The judge also stated that the conviction of Ahmad Zukhairi, 43, for soliciting and accepting bribes was a finding of fact, in which the court found no error.
“The appellate court is not persuaded by the learned counsel that there is a misdirection by the court’s below that warrants an acquittal. The conviction of the second accused (Ahmad Zukhairi) is safe and upheld.
“Therefore, the first appellant’s (Mohd Arif) appeal is allowed, while the second appellant’s appeal is dismissed,” he said and ordered Ahmad Zukhairi to begin his jail sentence from yesterday.
On Nov 14, 2018, the Sessions Court found Mohd Arif guilty of abetting Ahmad Zukhairi, in accepting S$200,000 from Syarikat Wazlina Sdn Bhd director Safian Salleh.
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 at Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur, between 4pm and 7pm on Aug 23, 2016.
Ahmad Zukhairi, a businessman, was convicted of four counts of soliciting and accepting bribes in connection with several projects involving the ministry in the same year.
Their appeals were dismissed by the High Court on March 23, 2021, prompting them to take their case to the Court of Appeal.
