[UPDATED] Court upholds nine graft, laundering charges against Azeez

PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal here today upheld nine money laundering and corruption charges against Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim. 

The three-member bench led by judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said unanimously set aside Azeez’s appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on March 12 last year which had dismissed his application to strike out the charges. 

The two other judges sitting with Kamaludin today were Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali. 

However, the panel granted Azeez’s bid to nullify four out of his 10 money laundering charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) as the prosecution could not state a definite location for the apparent crime.

“The prosecution’s inability to provide an exact location (of where the accused crimes took place) raises serious questions,” Abu Bakar said when reading out the verdict. 

As such, the court ruled for charges three, seven, eight, and nine to be removed from Azeez’s charge sheet.  

The charges each involved an amount of RM820,000, RM4.2 million, RM7 million and RM842,000, respectively. 

The appellate court then set the case to proceed on September 7 at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. 

Of the charges Azeez, 55, faces, the three that are related to corruption involve RM5.2 million in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah.

On the money laundering charges, he was initially subjected to ten of these, involving RM13.9 million worth of funds that he had allegedly received from Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd.

Today’s court decision to strike out four of these charges means that he now only faces six money laundering charges. 

Prior to the decision being read out, Kamaludin had chastised the prosecution team for failing to provide a response from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on evidence submitted by Azeez’s counsel. 

They have sent (the documents) to you, at least reply. What are you doing? People (have written) to you, please reply. If you don’t like it, just reject it and state on what reasons (the rejection was made),” he said.  

During the case’s previous mention on August 26, defence lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad claimed that his client’s representation letter to the AGC had been submitted on June 27. 

However, deputy public prosecutor Aslinda Ahad told the court today that the prosecution team had only received meeting minutes and investigation papers from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior director last Friday (September 2). 

“The prosecution team has since presented the materials to the AGC. As of our last briefing session, we did not receive any orders to answer to any representation made by the appellant,” she said. 

Earlier on, Amer had pleaded for the court to allow Azeez to say a few words against “unfair media reporting” on why the court had adjourned without delivering its verdict on August 26. 

In response, Kamaludin rejected the request, saying: “With all due respect to Azeez, this is not the proper forum for you (Azeez) to make a speech. Maybe you can go outside.” 

“Once you have a counsel here they will speak for you on your behalf,” he said. 

It was reported that the appellate court had delayed its decision on the appeal to today for several reasons, among them being that Azeez was admitted to the University Malaya Medical Centre for acute gastroenteritis. 

The postponement was the fourth for this case. 

For the three corruption charges, he is alleged to have committed the offences at CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur on December 8, 2010, and at Affin Bank, Puchong City Centre, Selangor, on June 13, 2017, and April 10, 2018.

On the money laundering charges, Azeez is charged with committing the offences in Klang Valley between March 8, 2010, and August 30, 2018. – The Vibes, September 5, 2022