Prosecution appeals Bung, wife's acquittal in Felcra graft case
Published on: Tuesday, September 19, 2023
By:
FMT, V Anbalagan
Bung Moktar Radin and Zizie Izette Samad were earlier acquitted of three charges of corruption and abetment after a High Court judge exercised his revisionary powers to set aside a lower court ruling calling for their defence. (Bernama pic)
Kuala Lumpur: The prosecution is appealing a High Court decision handed down in the exercise of its revisionary powers which acquitted and discharged Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin and his wife from charges of corruption over a RM150 million Felcra investment.
Lawyer Teh See Khoon, who represents Zizie Izette Samad, said the notice of appeal was filed well ahead of a 14-day deadline prescribed by law. A copy was also extended to the defence.
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“I can confirm that the prosecution filed the notice of appeal at the High Court registry here and we were notified,” he told FMT.
According to procedure, the High Court judge has to provide his grounds of judgment, following which the aggrieved party, in this case the prosecution, will file a petition of appeal identifying where they say the judge erred in law and on the facts.
The Court of Appeal will hear the final appeal on a date which will be scheduled at case management.
In his verdict on Sept 7, Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid said the sessions court judge had erred by asking the couple to enter their defence.
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He said the lower court’s decision amounted to a miscarriage of justice.
“After examining the records, this court finds there was no evidence that P24 and P25 (prosecution witnesses Madhi Abdul Hamid and Norhaili Mokhtar) had given money to (Bung) through his wife (Zizie),” said Azhar.
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The judge then exercised his powers of revision under Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code to acquit and discharge the two.
Bung, 65, was charged with two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM2.2 million and RM262,500 as gratification to obtain Felcra’s approval to make a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual’s unit trust.
He was accused of receiving the bribes from Madhi, a Public Mutual investment agent, through Zizie, at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch here between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.
He was also charged with receiving a bribe of RM337,500 from Norhaili, another Public Mutual investment agent, under Zizie’s name at the same location on June 19, 2015.
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