KUALA LUMPUR – This year will definitely be an unforgettable birthday for former Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who turns 70 today.
How he is going to live his septuagenarian life will be determined tomorrow, when the Kuala Lumpur High Court rules on his RM2 million corruption case – whether he walks out of the courtroom a free man or convicted of the offence.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan is expected to deliver his decision on the case at 9am tomorrow.
Zaini had initially fixed November 17 for decision, but it was adjourned following enforcement of the conditional movement control order.
Apart from Tengku Adnan’s case, the court complex will also see two other high-profile corruption cases – one involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, 60, and the other involving Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, 60, and his wife, Datin Seri Zizie Ezette A. Samad, 41 – come up for mention at separate sessions courts here tomorrow.
Tengku Adnan, better known as Ku Nan, was charged in his capacity as a civil servant, namely the Federal Territories minister, with having received for himself RM2 million from businessman Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong, who is Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd director, via a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque belonging to the company. The cheque was then deposited into a CIMB Bank account owned by Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, in which Tengku Adnan has an interest and is known to Aset Kayamas as being related to the former minister’s official duties.
The Putrajaya MP was accused of committing the offence, under Section 165 of the Penal Code, at CIMB Bank Bhd’s Pusat Bandar Damansara branch here on June 14, 2016.
He faces imprisonment for up to two years, or a fine, or both, if convicted.
The trial of the case began on July 2 last year, with the prosecution calling 23 witnesses, including two former Kuala Lumpur mayors – Tan Sri Ahmad Phesal Talib and Tan Sri Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz – as well as Chai, the star prosecution witness.
On October 14 last year, the high court ordered Tengku Adnan to enter his defence on the corruption charge after the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against him.
The MP chose to give his sworn statement from the witness stand and his defence proceedings were held for two days, on January 17 and March 5.
In his testimony, Tengku Adnan admitted that he received a RM2-million cheque from Chai on June 14, 2016, for the Sg Besar (Selangor) and Kuala Kangsar (Perak) by-elections’ campaign expenses on June 18 the same year.
The by-elections were held following the deaths of two incumbents – Datuk Noriah Kasnon and Datuk Wan Mohammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad – both from UMNO, in a helicopter crash in Sebuyau, Sarawak, on May 5, 2016.
Tengku Adnan also told the court that the RM2 million given by Chai was like “pocket money” to him.
Other witnesses called to testify were his former political secretary Datuk Mohd Rafi Alli Hassan, Simpang Renggam Umno division chief Datuk Zakaria Dullah and former Sg Besar by-election machinery director Datuk Rizalman Mokhtar.
On June 30, the defence closed its case after calling four witnesses, in a proceeding which lasted for four days from March 4, with Tengku Adnan being called as the first defence witness.
On December 7, the MP was discharged not amounting to an acquittal by another high court here on a charge of accepting a RM1 million bribe from businessman Datuk Tan Eng Boon, who had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of abetting the politician and was fined RM1.5 million.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali made the decision after being informed that the prosecution did not wish to continue the case against Tengku Adnan as there were new developments in the case. – Bernama, December 20, 2020
