Kota Kinabalu: A 55-year-old businessman was freed on three charges of corruptly receiving three cheques worth RM90,000 as an inducement to pay a company’s debts.
Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Manat discharged and acquitted Kong Yin Siong after ruling that the defence had raised reasonable doubt against the case, Friday.
In making the decision, Abu among others, said there was no direct evidence that Kong had received the three cheques from the prosecution first witness (PW1-General Manager of Kong’s company) and Kong had made the payments to the three suppliers even before PW1 met the suppliers.
The court further said based on these two short backgrounds, there were inferences which came out from the whole evidences and that it was unsafe to convict the accused based on the evidences.
The court ruled that the defence had raised reasonable doubt and rebutted the presumption under Section 50(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
On the first count, Kong was accused of receiving a cheque of RM50,000 from Wong Kon Kiaw through Chin Chee Fui, as inducement to pay Wisma Rakyat Sdn Bhd’s debt amounting to RM876,020 to Heng Seng Trading.
On the second count, he allegedly received another cheque for RM20,000 from Chian Tow Tenom, also through Chin, as inducement to pay the same company’s debt amounting to RM515,210 to Winson Stationery Sdn Bhd.
On the third count, Kong is accused of receiving another cheque of RM20,000 from Bang Khiong Sin, also through Chin, as inducement to pay the same company’s debt worth RM524,300 to Fui Teck Sdn Bhd.
The alleged offences took place at the company’s office in Keningau between August and September 2014.
The offence, under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, provide for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to five times of the bribery amount or RM10,000 or any amount which higher on conviction.
The prosecution had called 25 witnesses to testify during the hearing while the defence only called Kong as their sole witness.
MACC Prosecuting Officer Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi appeared for the prosecution while counsel Hamid Ismail defended Kong.
