The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today cleared two former Perak assemblypersons of corruption charges.

Court of Appeal president Md Raus Sharif, chairing a three-member bench, dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of Captain (Rtd) Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu , 64, and Captain (Rtd) Usaili Alias, 63, for corruption by the Sessions Court.

The prosecution appealed to the Court of Appeal after its appeal was dismissed by the High Court.

Justice Raus said the court did not find any reason to disturb the findings of the Sessions Court and High Court and upheld the decision of the lower courts in acquitting the two men.

Mohd Osman ( photo ), a former Changkat Jering assemblyperson and Usaili, a former Bota assemblyperson, were charged in the Sessions Court in Ipoh with three counts of allegedly receiving and soliciting bribes involving a housing project in Seri Iskandar in 2008.

For the first and second charge, they were accused of  accepting RM5,000 and soliciting RM100,000 from Mohamad Imran  Abdullah at the Aquarius Restaurant & Bar, Summit Hotel, Bukit Mertajam, Penang on Aug 16, 2008.

On the third count, they were alleged to have accepted RM100,000 from Mohamad Imran at the Restoran Kluang Station Cafe at Medan Istana, Bandar Ipoh Raya  on Aug 19, 2008.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi, while lawyers Wan Azmir Wan Majid and Surjan Singh Sidhu represented Mohd Osman and Usaili, respectively.

- Bernama