Ex-politician loses final appeal
Published on: Saturday, September 24, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: A former politician convicted on two counts of corruption failed in his final appeal against his conviction and sentence of a total of two years and six months' jail and RM2.75 million fine.Court of Appeal Justices Dato' Rohana Yusuf, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Hasnah Dato' Mohammed Hashim unanimously dismissed the appeal by Suaidin @ Shuhaiddin Langkab @ Langab.The appellate court delivered their decision at the seminar room of the general ward in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1, which was declared as an open court on Friday.
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Suaidin, 66, had been admitted to the hospital since Sept 20 for chest pains.The court ruled that they could not agree with the issues raised by Suaidin's counsel and found no merit in the issues raised."Having given our consideration on the evidence in the appeal record, we agreed with the deputy public prosecutor that the conviction of the appellant in the circumstances is safe," ruled Rohana.On the sentence, the court held that the medical condition of Suaidin as submitted before them was a post event which they did not think has any bearing on Suaidin's conviction.
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"We are also of the view that the prisons authority equipped with necessary power and discretion will be able to handle prisoners with medical conditions," held Rohana.The court affirmed the conviction and sentence imposed by the Sessions Court as affirmed by the High Court.
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The court also issued a committal order against Suaidin which took effect from Friday.Suaidin, who was president of Parti Bersatu Sasa Malaysia (Bersama) and previously also Parti Setia but challenged, was on Nov 22, 2013 found guilty by the Special Corruption Court on two counts of corrupt practice involving RM550,000 over the processing of land grants eight years ago.He was sentenced to 18 months' jail and fined RM2 million or a year's jail on the first count for asking RM400,000 from one Chew Ai Wah as an inducement purportedly as payment to an officer in the Land and Survey Department for managing the grant issuance process for land lots-PT80231840-PT80231842 and PT 80231849-PT80231852 in Pitas.The offence was committed at 9.30pm on Aug 28, 2008 in a room at the Tang Dynasy hotel, here.On the second count, Suaidin was jailed a year and fined RM750,000 or 10 months' jail for corruptly receiving RM150,000 from Chew as an inducement for the same matter at 9pm on Sept 19, 2008 at Restoran Penyu in the Nexus Hotel Karambunai Resort, near here.The court ordered him to serve the jail sentence concurrently.On June 4, 2014, Suaidin's appeal against the decision was dismissed by the High Court.He, however, managed to obtain a stay of execution pending his final appeal.Earlier, counsel Nelson Angang together with counsel Loretto S. Padua also requested that Suaidin be placed on a good behaviour bond in the event their appeal is not allowed, based on Suaidin's age and his suffering from health problems and also a mental condition problem.Based on his health condition, Suaidin was not fit to go to prison as he requires medical attention daily, said Angang.However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Norzilati Izhani Zainal said the application was not suitable for corruption cases as it was a very serious offence.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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