KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 – The High Court here today rejected an appeal by two former officers of a company against conviction by the Sessions Court on charges of corruption eight years ago.
Judge Datuk Ghazali Cha in his judgement said Judge Rosenani Abdul Rahman did not err in her decision in the trial of Nor Azmi Wahab, 47, and Ab Patah Omar, 59.
Ghazali maintained the prison sentence of six months and a fine of RM100,000 or six months jail on Nor Azmi. Ab Patah also had his sentence of six months jail and a fine of RM97,500 or six months jail maintained. Both men were ordered to begin their prison sentence from the date they were sentenced by the Sessions Court on Aug 2, 2007.
They were accused of receiving a bribe from Sofiyan Yahya, managing director of Syarikat Kijangmaju Sdn Bhd, of RM20,000 each to speed up the issuing of a cheque for final payment of RM142,000 related to a sub-contract to supply skilled workers for maintenance work at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
At the time of the offence, Nor Azmi was the deputy general manager of Urusan Teknologi Wawasan Sdn Bhd while Ab Patah was the manager of the same company. They were accused of committing the offence at Maria Coffee House, Mint Hotel, at 9pm on March 20, 2001.
They were charged under Section 11(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 that calls for imprisonment of a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 20 years as well as a fine of not less than five times the sum of gratification, whichever is higher.
Ghazali said in the earlier decision, Rosenani did not only depend on the tape recording (of conversation between the appellants and the complainant) by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) but also considered the evidence of other witnesses and the actions of Nor Azmi and Ab Patah of being at the scene of the incident to accept the money to show that they agreed to receive the bribe.
“The sixth witness (Sofiyan) had contacted the ACA to make a report. After that he was instructed to telephone both the complainants for the release of the last cheque and this was recorded. The ACA had made a recording of the call that confirmed the request.
“The presence of both at the hotel showed the act of agreeing to a bribe. The Sessions Court judge did not misdirect herself in her decision on this fact and the act was clear.
“The acts of the first appellant (Nor Azmi) and second complainant (Ab Patah) in opening a little of the envelope (with the money in it) and peeking into it and saying ‘ok, we trust you, tak mau kira (don’t want to count)’ showed they agreed,” he said.
Throughout the proceedings, Nor Azmi and Ab Patah appeared calm. Lawyers Azrul Zulkifli Stork and K. Kulasekar, who represented them, applied for a stay of sentence to appeal to the Appeals Court.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Baharuddin Ahmad Kassim prosecuted. – Bernama
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