The two-year jail sentence of a former Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd general manager who was charged on two counts of corruption involving RM64,200 last year was upheld after the Court of Appeal rejected his judicial review application today.
The three-man bench, chaired by Rohana Yusuf, unanimously dismissed the application filed by Md Zaki Othman, 55, to review the decision of the previous panel in upholding the conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court.
Rohana said the panel was satisfied that the application did not meet the threshold requirement by the applicant.
"We are not sitting here today to revisit all the issues which had been raised and canvassed by the appellant, therefore the application is rejected," said Rohana, who sat with Justices Yaacob Md Sam and Rhodzariah Bujang.
Zaki, who was represented by lawyers Harjinderjit Singh and Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, filed a judicial review to set aside the Court of Appeal's decision on Aug 8, 2017, which upheld his conviction and imprisonment on charges of soliciting and accepting bribes.
The bribe was in the form of payment for a furniture set as an inducement to help Abdul Salam Ahmad obtain a letter of intent for a project.
Zaki was charged with committing the offences at his house at Jalan Austin Perdana 2/11, Austin Perdana Park, at 10am on Dec 14, 2007 and at Europe Asia Furniture Expo Sdn Bhd, Jalan Universiti, Petaling Jaya on Nov 28, 2007.
On Aug 8, 2017, the Court of Appeal dropped three charges of soliciting three branded watches namely Rolex, IWC and Hublot worth RM114,680 from Abdul Salam as inducement to help approve and speed up claims on progress payments in relation to a contract, after allowing Zaki's appeal.
On May 30, 2016, High Court judicial commissioner Ab Karim Ab Rahman reduced the jail sentence from 27 years to 10 years against Zaki on five counts of corruption after allowing his appeal.
The High Court sentenced him to two years’ jail on each count and ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
On April 12 2012, he was sentenced by the Sessions Court to four years’ jail and a fine of RM168,000 for the first charge, and five years’ jail and a fine of RM108,500 on the second charge.
On the third charge, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined RM153,000; the fourth charge, six-years’ jail and a fine of RM164,900, and for the fifth charge, seven years’ jail and a fine of RM300,000.
The jail sentences totalled 27 years, and a total fine of RM894,400 after the Sessions Court ordered all the sentences to run consecutively.
Deputy public prosecutor Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail appeared for the prosecution.
- Bernama
