The Sessions Court here today set July 19 for the trial of a sergeant of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) and a businessman who are charged with stealing and disposing off two F5E jet engines belonging to the RMAF.

air force f-5 jet engine missing two charged 060110 tharmendran Judge Aslam Zainuddin set aside five days for the trial after counsel

Rakhbir Singh, who is representing Sgt N Tharmendran ( right ), and counsel Parvinder Singh Doal for K Rajandran Prasad, informed the court that they had received all the documents they needed from the prosecution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Syed Faisal Syed Hamid also told the court that the prosecution would hand over copies of any other documents that comes into its possesion before the trial date to the defence accordingly. 

During re-mention of the case today, Rakhbir Singh had also urged the court to lower bail for Tharmendran from RM150,000 to RM10,000 citing it was too high considering the accused was only a sergeant and also had an aged father to care for.

He also said that the bail amount did not commensurate the value of the engines, adding that based on Internet reports, their worth was not very high.

However, Syed Faisal objected saying the value of the jet engines should not be seen from the monetary aspect per se but also from the aspects of national security.

Aslam denied the request.

air force f-5 jet engine missing two charged 060110 rajandran prasad On Jan 6, Tharmendran was charged under Section 380, read together with Section 109 of the Penal Code, with theft.

He was charged with stealing the jet engines in December 2007 at the air movement section of the RMAF base in Subang near here.

He was also charged with conspiring in the theft of the two engines with senior serviceman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop at the material processing shed (Matra 1) of the RMAF base in Sungai Besi. He was arrested on Sept 1 last year.

Tharmendran faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine, if convicted.

Rajandran ( above ) was charged with disposing off stolen properties (the two jet engines) under Section 414 of the Penal Code.

He is alleged to have committed the offence on April 30, 2008, at No. 49, Jalan TS 6/6, Taman Industri Subang.

Both had pleaded not guilty and Aslam had ordered that they be tried jointly.

Syed Faizal was assisted by DPP Hamidi Mohd Nor.

- Bernama