KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court allowed today an application by former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, who is facing three charges of corruption and 10 charges of money laundering, to stay the hearing of the case pending the outcome of his appeal at the Court of Appeal to strike out the charges.
Judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin made the decision after finding that there were special circumstances that justified the court to use its discretion to stay the hearing at the sessions court.
“After considering the submission by counsel and taking into account that no objection was raised by the prosecution, the court allows the application.
“The court also considers the principles of law in an application to stay a hearing. In this case, there are special circumstances that justify the court to stay the trial proceedings in the sessions court until the disposal of the applicant’s appeal in the Court of Appeal,” he said.
On March 12, Azeez failed in his bid to quash the charges following Jamil’s decision to dismiss the appeal on ground that the charges were not defective and based on the provisions of the law.
Azeez filed an appeal against the dismissal of his application on the same day, and also applied to stay the proceedings at the sessions court on April 8.
Earlier, lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, representing Azeez, submitted that the prosecution had not objected to the stay application.
“There will be no prejudice to the prosecution, rather it will prejudice the applicant if stay is not allowed,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Adam Mohamed told the court there had been no instruction from the attorney-general’s chambers to object to the stay application.
Azeez faces three counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM5.2 million in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah and 10 counts of money laundering involving RM13.9 million allegedly received from Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd.
The offences were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank at Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8, 2010 and at Affin Bank at Puchong City Centre, Selangor, on June 13, 2017 and April 10, 2018.
Azeez was charged with committing the money laundering offences in the Klang Valley area between March 8, 2010 and Aug 30, 2018. - FMT
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