A former deputy director of Immigration walked out a free man when the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today overturned his conviction and sentence for corruption.

Yusof Abu Bakar, 58, was found guilty by the Sessions Court on Dec 20, 2010 and sentenced to six years’ jail and fined RM620,000 for 14 counts of corruption involving RM121,500.

According to the charge, he received between RM500 and RM18,500 from a marketing manager to approve social visit pass extentions for Chinese nationals.

The offences were allegedly committed at his office in Putrajaya; at the Federal Hotel in Jalan Bukit Bintang; and at the Caltex petrol station in Jalan Pudu in Kuala Lumpur between March 21 and June 25, 2008.

Justice Ghazali Cha in his judgment pointed to a middleman named ‘atuk’ who was purportedly involved in the case, yet was never called by the prosecution to testify and confirm that he (atuk) had received money from Yusof.

The judge said the prosecution merely relied on Yusof’s handwritten ‘lulus’ (approved) in the document, which was not evidence to prove he was paid, as he had the authority as a deputy director to make approvals.

Ghazali further held that the prosecution failed to prove the element of receiving money by Yusof.

The appellant was represented by counsel Mohammed Azmi Mohd Said while the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Sophian Zakaria.

- Bernama