KUALA LUMPUR: Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd director Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed and his wife failed to obtain a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) related to the prosecution’s supposed delay in handing over documents vital for their defence.
Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin dismissed the couple’s application connected to their criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money-laundering charges.
The judge set Nov 20 for the deputy public prosecutor to submit the list of witnesses and to set trial dates.
The prosecution would also have to submit the remaining documents by then.
At the outset of yesterday’s proceedings, Abu Sahid’s lawyer Datuk Jasbeer Singh made the DNAA application, saying it had been a year since his clients were charged but the key documents requested by the defence had yet to be provided.
“The volume of documents is not important, what matters now is whether the evidential issue has been covered under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code pertaining to delivery of documents.
“There should not have been a charge in the first place if the investigations were still ongoing or incomplete,” he said.
This came after deputy public prosecutor Nidzuwan Abd Latif said the prosecution would submit another five volumes of documents but some were still pending submission.
“The delay in submission of the documents is due to the need to liaise with the relevant authorities and agencies,” he told the court.
Nidzuwan also said any outstanding documents could still be provided before the hearing, giving the defence sufficient time to prepare its case.
He told the court that the prosecution is ready for the High Court to fix a trial date.
Suzana then dismissed the application, ruling that the use of DNAA was not relevant to this case.
On Sept 8 last year, Abu Sahid claimed trial to 17 counts of CBT and money laundering related to the proposed MEX II Highway project.
He was charged with a total of four counts of CBT involving RM313mil and 13 counts of money laundering involving RM139mil that was committed between May 2016 and October 2019.
MEX II is a proposed 18km highway project linking Putrajaya to the KL International Airport that began construction in 2016 and was scheduled for completion in December 2019 but was halted due to financial issues.
Abu Sahid also faces seven additional charges of misusing property involving RM145mil under Section 403 of the Penal Code.
His wife, Puan Sri Noor Azrina Mohd Azmi, was also charged on Sept 8 last year with receiving proceeds from unlawful activities totalling RM67.14mil into her bank account from an account belonging to Abu Sahid between March and November of 2017.
