KUALA LUMPUR – Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob, who presided over the corruption case involving Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and his wife, Datin Seri Zizie Ezette A. Samad, expressed disappointment that she had to vacate the hearing dates this week, as the Sabah deputy chief minister has to attend the state assembly sitting.
She reprimanded Bung Moktar’s lawyers for the delay in submitting a letter to request that the dates – from December 21 to 24 – be vacated, saying it was sent only last Thursday.
“I am very disappointed. I’m sure you knew the Sabah assembly schedule much earlier, I think 14 days before the sitting. The prosecution checked the procedures for the sitting, its requirements, and so forth.
“I'm sure you (defence lawyers) knew much much earlier, so why was the letter sent at the last minute, on December 17?
“Why are we wasting the court’s time? If indeed, the case cannot proceed, at least, I can call for other cases to hear. So now, you have wasted my entire week.”
The court had fixed today to continue hearing the case for the defence to cross-examine the ninth prosecution witness, the special officer to former Felcra chairman Nazrul Aswad.
Lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran, representing Zizie Ezette, said the defence takes full responsibility for the delay, and apologised to Rozina on behalf of Bung Moktar’s lawyer, M. Athimulan, who was unable to appear in court today.
Zizie Ezette and another of her husband’s lawyers, Ridha Abdah Subri, were present in court.
Kumaraendran told the court that Bung Moktar, who is also Kinabatangan MP and Lamag assemblyman, was informed at the last minute that he had to answer questions in the state assembly.
To this, Roziana said he should have at least notified the court that he might not be able to turn up.
“I don't want this sort of thing to happen again at the last (minute). It is not only your case that I have to hear; there are other public-interest matters I have to hear. Please, as officers of the court, I’m sure you are aware of the court’s practice.”
She then told the prosecution that she has to postpone the case.
“We can’t proceed in his (Bung Moktar) absence as this is a criminal matter, and our next witness will be a very material witness. Although there are legal provisions that allow us to proceed with the case (without the presence of the accused), for justice and fairness of the matter, I allow the dates to be vacated, and the court will have to reschedule (the trial) to other dates.”
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Noor Hafizan Zakaria told the court that the prosecution will call another 17 witnesses after the ninth prosecution witness has completed testifying.
Rozina postponed the trial to January 11 next year, and asked the defence to submit a complete schedule of the dates of the state assembly sitting to make it easier for the court to reschedule the trial.
“By January 11, (the defence), please confirm the dates that I requested because I do not want to get a letter like this, stating that he has to attend the sitting. It won’t look good because both (the court case and state assembly sitting) are of public interest, and both are important to the people.”
On May 3 last year, Bung Moktar, 60, pleaded not guilty to two counts of accepting bribes, amounting to RM2.2 million and RM262,500, as an inducement to obtain Felcra’s approval to make a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual unit trusts.
Bung Moktar, who was then non-executive chairman of Felcra, is accused of accepting bribes from Public Mutual investment agent Madhi Abdul Hamid, 38, through Zizie Ezette at Public Bank’s Taman Melawati branch in Jalan Bandar 12 here between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.
He also pleaded not guilty to accepting a RM335,500 bribe for himself from another Public Mutual investment agent, 42-year-old Norlaili Ahmad Mokhtar, under the name “Zizie Izette” for the same reason.
The offence was allegedly committed at the same place on June 19, 2015.
Zizie Ezette has pleaded not guilty to three counts of abetting her husband in committing the alleged offences, at the same place, date and time. – Bernama, December 21, 2020
