PUTRAJAYA: A simple “salam” has cost Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad his freedom, after the Federal Court ruled the greeting was a form of solicitation for bribes totalling RM3.09mil by the former Felda chairman.
Coupled with the words “kalau dia orang bagi apa-apa nanti kau ambil lah” (if they give you anything, just take it), the Federal Court unanimously held that the greeting expressed a totally different connotation.
In restoring his conviction over a Felda hotel purchase, the apex court upheld his six-year jail term and RM15.45mil fine.
Federal Court judge Justice Nordin Hassan, who chaired a three-judge panel yesterday, said while offering ‘salam’ through an intermediary was a customary practice among Muslims, the greeting expressed “a different connotation” in the case of Mohd Isa.
In the 78-page judgment, the Federal Court disagreed with the Court of Appeal that there was no evidence of the demand for gratification through Mohd Isa’s words sent to businessman Ikhwan Zaidel through Mohd Isa’s former special officer Muhammad Zahid Md Arip.
Both Ikhwan and Muhammad Zahid testified as key prosecution witnesses in the trial.
Justice Nordin said Mohd Isa’s communication to Muhammad Zahid, together with the ‘salam’, supported the evidence of solicitation or demand for the bribe money.
“As the special officer, it was highly improbable that he would solicit or demand the said bribe money for himself. It requires a person in authority to solicit or demand such a substantial amount, and in the present case, the respondent is that person,” Justice Nordin said in handing down the judgment.
The judge also said the Court of Appeal had misapplied the presumption under Section 50(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and failed to assess relevant facts in the case properly, which warranted intervention by the apex court.
Section 50(1) establishes a legal presumption that if a person accepts, solicits or receives gratification, it is presumed to be done corruptly as an inducement or reward, shifting the burden of proof to the accused to rebut the presumption on the balance of probabilities.)
“The respondent had failed to rebut the presumption of law under Section 50(1). As such, the ingredients of the offence of corruptly receiving the money as a reward for assisting the approval for the purchase of the hotel had been proven for all nine charges against the respondent under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act beyond reasonable doubt,” said Justice Nordin, who took one hour and 45 minutes to read the judgment which allowed the prosecution’s appeal to restore the conviction on all nine charges against Mohd Isa.
The court then upheld the sentence meted out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Other judges on the panel were Justices Lee Swee Seng and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.
Mohd Isa was sent to the Sungai Buloh Prison upon the issuance of the committal order.
The former Negri Sembilan mentri besar was charged in 2018 with nine counts of dishonestly receiving RM3.09mil in bribes from Ikhwan Zaidel, then a director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd.
The payment was purportedly made as an inducement for approving the purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel and Suites in Kuching, Sarawak, by Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd for RM160mil.
