Tourism Ministry director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab was today charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for criminal breach of trust amounting to RM888,000.

NONE According to the charge sheet, he is charged for approving payment to the account of LCL Interior Dubai on Feb 27, 2007, even though the conditions for the construction of Restaurant Malaysia Dubai in Dubai was not met.

Mirza ( right ), who was then Tourism Ministry subsidiary company Pempena Sdn Bhd director, was charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, which carries a sentence of two to 20 years imprisonment.

Mirza, 53, pleaded not guilty. Judge Azizah Mahmud set bail at RM30,000 and ordered that he surrender his passport on Sep 1, when he returns from performing the umrah.

He was jointly-charged with former chief operating officer of Tourism Ministry subsidiary Pempena Mohammad Rosly Md Selamat, 56, who also pleaded not guilty.

Bail for Rosly was set for RM50,000 and he was ordered to hand over his passport on Sep 6, after he returns from a family reunion in Melbourne.

NONE Mirza, who was represented by defence lawyer Shashi Menon, was last year acquitted from a charge of receiving valuable gratification in the form of an expensive dental treatment, worth RM13,860, as a public officer.

Rosly ( picture, on left ) was this morning charged together with Pempena's former chief operating former chief financial controller Lim Khing Tai ( above, right ) for a different offence under the same Section.

Rosly and Lim were charged with criminal breach of trust for providing RM169,770 "with malicious intention" to one Ummi Hafilda Ali for concert sponsorship on Aug 15, 2006.

If found guilty, they are liable to be jailed between two and 20 years. They can also be whipped and fined. Judge Rozana Ali Yusof set bail at RM20,000 each.

Lim is required to hand over his passport today. The cases of all three defendants have been set for mention on Sep 6.

Rosly and Lim were represented by Rejinder Singh Dhaliwal and Chau Wei respectively, while the deputy public prosecutor is Muhamad Anas Mahadzir.

NONE According to a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency complaints form in 2009, the agency had information that officers of Pempena had received a bribe from Ummi Hafilda ( left ) for concert sponsorship of RM300,000.

The concert, by Middle Eastern singer Amir Diab, did not take place.

A controversial figure once dubbed 'Malaysia's Monica Lewinsky', Ummi played a major role in bringing down Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim from a political star to a prisoner when she testified in the former deputy prime minister's 1999 corruption and sodomy trials.

Allegations against Pempena first surfaced in a July 2, 2008, in a Malaysiakini report over a memorandum by Pempena staff to then-tourism minister Azalina Othman, alleging graft and breach of trust by two key figures in the company.

Among other complaints, the memorandum claimed that the duo had pocketed commissions when refinancing luxury vehicles for a high-end tourist taxi service, approved several lucrative contracts to RM2 companies and overstated the cost of creating an e-tourism portal by about RM5 million.

azalina othman Several days later, Azalina (right) revealed in the Dewan Rakyat that an internal probe was underway . On Nov 3, she revealed that PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC) audit had confirmed "questionable" deals by Pempena.

A summary report of the PWC probe , made public only through Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang in November that year, said that, as at June 2008, Pempena had invested a total of RM54.5 million in 24 companies, but only four had generated profits.

The report also said that Pempena invested in five non-functional companies and recommended divesting the companies, which would result in a loss of approximately RM20 million.

PWC also noted that Pempena's RM18.3 million Executive Taxi Services luxury taxi project had up to November 2008 recorded a loss of up to RM7.8 million.