Former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has been given a discharged not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) in his RM1 million corruption case.
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali issued the order during open-court proceedings this morning.
The accused was calm in the dock as the ruling was issued.
The ruling was issued this morning, following submissions from the prosecution and defence.
DPP Julia Ibrahim informed the court that the prosecution was instructed by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) to seek a DNAA.
She explained that this was due to new developments in the case involving one of the witnesses.
However, defence counsel Tan Hock Chuan had countered that a discharge amounting to acquittal be granted instead.
The lawyer argued that it would be unfair for the accused to have the uncertainty of the charge hanging over his head, among others.
Today was initially set for the resumption of the trial.
The 69-year-old Putrajaya MP was alleged to have corruptedly received RM1 million from businessperson Tan Eng Boon.
Eng Boon had previously pleaded guilty to an alternative count of abetting the lawmaker to allegedly commit the offence and was fined RM1.5 million.
Tengku Adnan has another RM2 million corruption case pending before a separate Kuala Lumpur High Court.
This matter is set for decision at the end of the defence on Dec 21.
Meanwhile, during proceedings before Nazlan (photo) today, Hock Chuan argued that it is unfair for the accused to have the charge hanging over his head for an indefinite period of time via the DNAA, especially as the case has been going on for two years.
The lawyer pointed to recent high profile corruption cases where acquittals were granted, such as the ones involving former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng.
Hock Chuan claimed that the present court can follow the trends shown by these cases.
However, Julia countered that the defence would not be prejudiced by a DNAA ruling as they could just write to the prosecution to ask for any new updates on the further investigation of the case.
"I inform the court that there has been a complaint (lodged with) MACC in this case regarding a witness, which may have an implication on this case.
"Therefore, the prosecution needs time to investigate the matter," she said.
"The defence can just write to the prosecution and we would have no problem to update the defence on the status of the (further) investigation.
"I believe there would be no prejudice and injustice to the accused.
"This application (of DNAA) is made to ensure all matters arising from this case are resolved and investigated," Julia said.
Nazlan then granted the DNAA order in Tengku Adnan's RM1 million graft case.
"In my view, the prosecution's submission on the recent development requiring further investigation justifies this court not to order a full acquittal.
"I, therefore, order the accused to be discharged without amounting to an acquittal," the judge ruled. - Mkini
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