Prosecution seeks to reinstate Isa Samad's corruption conviction at top court

New Straits Times

3 days ago

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has fixed Oct 29 to hear the prosecution's appeal to reinstate nine corruption charges involving former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad.
Deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz said the date was fixed by deputy registrar Wan Fatimah Zaharah Wan Yussof during a case management proceeding today.
He said the court also instructed them to file their written submissions before Oct 14.
The charges involved RM3 million in bribes allegedly linked to the purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) in Kuching, Sarawak.
The prosecution is seeking to reinstate the High Court's 2012 decision, which found Mohd Isa guilty and sentenced him to six years' imprisonment and a fine of RM15.45 million, in default of 18 years in prison.
The prosecution filed the notice of appeal on March 7 last year and submitted the petition of appeal on June 26, listing 24 grounds as to why the Court of Appeal erred in acquitting Mohd Isa.
The prosecution said the Court of Appeal was wrong in law in finding there was evidence from Ikhwan Zaidel indicating that Mohd Isa had never requested gratification from him in the two meetings with him in his office.
The prosecution said Muhammad Zahid, who was one of the prosecution's witnesses, had understood the words to mean that anything given by Ikhwan should be accepted by him on behalf of Mohd Isa.
It said the Court of Appeal made a contrary finding that the statement could not, in a literal sense, be interpreted as a specific request or directive to Muhammad Zahid to solicit a bribe from Ikhwan.
The prosecution also argued that the Court of Appeal's findings of fact were inconsistent with the factual findings made by the High Court, which were based on evidence adduced through Muhammad Zahid and Ikhwan, both of whom were found to be credible witnesses.
On March 6, 2024, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel led by Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, sitting with Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk S M Komathy Suppiah, unanimously overturned Mohd Isa's conviction and sentence.
In his judgment, Vazeer Alam said there was no credible evidence to prove the existence of a code word "salam" (allegedly linked to the corruption charges) between Mohd Isa and his former special officer, Muhammad Zahid Md Arip.
In 2018, Mohd Isa, now 75, was charged with nine counts of accepting bribes totalling RM3,090,000 from Ikhwan, then a director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd (GAPSB), through Muhammad Zahid, as a reward for helping to approve the purchase of the hotel by Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FICSB) for RM160 million.
The offences were allegedly committed on the 49th floor of Menara Felda, Persiaran KLCC, between July 21, 2014, and Dec 11, 2015.
The charges were framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.