Ex-MIED CEO to walk free?

P Chitirakala's days in court may soon come to end should the AG decide drop the cheating charges against her.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former chief executive officer of the Maju Institute of Educational development (MIED) P Chithirakala can look forward to her days in court being cut short due to some “new developments” in the case.

Her trial scheduled to resume today till Friday was postponed to July 21 for her lawyers to submit a fresh representation to the Attorney-General’s Office.

Contacted by FMT, Chithrakala’s counsel Jadadish Chandra confirmed that a fresh application would be filed to settle the matter after a settlement was reached in the civil proceedings concerning MIED recently.

Chandra declined to reveal further information as to whether the representaion was to drop all the three cheating charges faced by Chithirakala.

A source close to the trial when contacted confirmed that it was related to the civil proceedings where former MIC Youth chief S Vigneswaran and MIED chairman S Samy Vellu together with the trustees of MIED reached a settlement last month.

It was also learnt that the parties involved in the civil matter had also agreed to return part of the money back to MIED’s coffers.

A senior deputy public prosecutor when contacted said that the AG’s office had the discreation to drop any criminal charges against the accused.

He said it could be done even at the end of the defence’s case as long the AG agreed with the parties which filed the representation that it was in the interest of justice and the public in general.

Chitirakala’s trial before judge Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh was scheduled to see Rashid Manan taking the stand as the prosecution’s third witness.

Rashid was given 30% of shares of MIED’s capital, and Samy Vellu told the court that he was a personal friend and secured RM5 million as loan for the construction of the MIC-owned medical college AIMST in Kedah.

Rashid was eventually asked to take over the project after the main contractor faced difficulties in completing it.

Samy Vellu, the former MIC president, testified as the prosecution’s first witness, followed by his son Vell Paari.

The trial started on April 6 with Chithirakala facing three counts of cheating MIED of RM4 million.