Kuala Lumpur: The sessions court has sentenced a former senior officer of the youth and sports ministry to 15 years in jail and fines totalling RM284.2 million after finding him guilty on multiple counts of corruption and money laundering.
Judge Kamarudin Kamsun found Otman Arsahd guilty of 32 corruption and 64 money laundering charges.
Of the 32 corruption charges, 17 were for submitting false claims, while the remainder related to abuses of power.
In a brief ruling, Kamarudin held that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt to the prosecution’s case.
However, the trial judge did not elaborate on his reasons for coming to a finding of guilt against Otman.
Otman was convicted of submitting false claims to a National Sports Council (NSC) finance division director for payment of RM36.3 million to companies linked to him.
He was also found guilty of using his position as secretary in the ministry’s finance division to instruct the NSC director-general to pay a sum of RM2.16 million to companies linked to his children for organising various ministry programmes.
The court granted a stay of execution on Otman’s jail and fine sentences pending an appeal to the High Court.
Kamarudin, however, increased Otman’s bail to RM300,000, which must be paid by Monday. He had previously put up RM250,000 in bail money when first charged in 2016.
The court also allowed the prosecution to forfeit 119 items related to Otman’s corruption charges.
Otman was represented by lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali, while deputy public prosecutors Farah Yasmin Salleh, Haresh Prakash and Harris Ong appeared for the prosecution.
