Sabah minister charged with laundering RM8.75 million
Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony pleaded not guilty at a special corruption court in Kota Kinabalu today to five counts of money laundering involving RM8.75 million.
He made the plea after the charges were read out to him before judge Abu Bakar Manat...
Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony pleaded not guilty at a special corruption court in Kota Kinabalu today to five counts of money laundering involving RM8.75 million.
He made the plea after the charges were read out to him before judge Abu Bakar Manat.
Two of the charges were framed under Section 4(1) (a) while the other three were under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
For the first two counts, Anthony was charged with being directly engaged in the transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activities by instructing a certain individual to transfer RM3.75 million from the bank account belonging to Budiman Juta Sdn Bhd to the bank account of Wondrous Enterprise Sdn Bhd.
He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Malayan Banking Berhad, Lot 6 & 7, Jalan Perpaduan, Kampung Air between July 25 and Aug 4, 2014.
The charge carries a fine not exceeding RM5 million, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, upon conviction.
For the other three charges, Anthony was accused of receiving a total of RM5 million in proceeds of unlawful activities from Budiman Juta Sdn Bhd which were transferred into the account of Asli Jati Engineering Sdn Bhd, a company that he owned.
The offence was allegedly committed at Malayan Banking Berhad, Lot 6 & 7, Jalan Perpaduan, Kampung Air between Sept 5, 2014, and Jan 18, 2016.
If convicted, he is liable to imprisonment not exceeding 15 years as well as a fine of RM5 million or not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of the unlawful activity or instrumentalities of the offence at the time the offence was committed, whichever is higher.
The court allowed Anthony bail of RM500,000 in two local sureties and ordered his passport to be surrendered to the court, and for him to report to the Sabah MACC office once every two months.
Deputy public prosecutors from the MACC, Ahmad Akram Gharib and Nartiah M. Sambatan appeared for the prosecution while Anthony was represented by four lawyers - Cedric Choo, Douglas Lind, Martin Tommy and Luke Ressa Balang.
Aug 4 was sent for re-mention.
- Bernama
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