Land and Cooperative Development Minister Kasitah Gaddam was charged in the Sessions Court today for alleged corrupt practices in the disposal of shares worth RM24 million while heading a Sabah state-owned body.

He also faces a second charge of misleading the directors of the Sabah Land Development Board in the share deal eight years ago.

Kasitah, 46, pleaded not guilty and posted bail amounting to RM1 million set by judge Rosenani Abdul Rahman who also ordered the minister to surrender all his travel documents as part of the bail condition.

The Umno senator from Sabah was said to have committed the offences at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 22, 1996 in his capacity as the executive chairperson of the Sabah Land Development Board - a position he had held between 1994 and 1998.

Promised shares

According to the first charge, Kasitah had allegedly abused his position by taking part in the deliberation to approve a proposal for the sale of 16.8 million shares held by the Board in Sapi Plantation to Briskmark Enterprise Sdn Bhd, a deal in which he was promised 3.36 million shares in Sapi Plantations.

The charge, under Section 2(1), Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance No 22/1970, carries a maximum penalty of 14 years or fine up to RM20,000, or both.

Kasitah is also accused of misleading the board by concealing the offer he received from PBB Oil Palm Sdn Bhd where he would be given five PBB Oil shares for each Sapi Plantation shares.

The offer was made in relation to the proposals by PBB Oil to be listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange main board.

The second offence falls under section 417 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum of five years jail and/or a fine.

Kasitah, who was appointed to his current ministerial position in 1998, was arrested in Putrajaya after he went to the Anti-Corruption Agency headquarters at 8.55am today.

He arrived at the Kuala Lumpur sessions court building at 11.30am and was brought to the courtroom under tight security via an underground tunnel which is usually reserved for remand prisoners.

The prosecution was headed by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail while Kasitah was represented by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah ( photo ).

During the proceedings, Abdul Gani told the court that the prosecution is seeking to transfer the case to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

"We are also applying for the case to be heard jointly with another accused who faces similar charges in another court in Sabah," he said.

Former GM charged

Abdul Gani ( left ) was referring to former Sabah Land Development Board general manager Wasli Mohd Said who was charged in the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court this morning with five counts of corruption.

One of the charges involved an allegation of giving RM3.6mil worth of company shares to Kasitah while the others were allegations of either giving or receiving cash.

He pleaded not guilty and is out on a RM1 million bail set by judge Nurcharya Arshad.

In a related development, ACA Deputy Director-General (I) Zawawi Nordin told reporters today that investigations into the share transactions commenced in 1999.

This is the second high-profile arrest over corruption in Malaysia this week

On Monday, Perwaja steel former boss Eric Chia was arrested by ACA and later charged with criminal breach of trust amounting to RM76.4 million.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who took over from Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Oct 31, has declared a war against corruption.