The sessions court hears that there is no legal barrier to ongoing investigations into Shamsul Iskandar Akin’s alleged corruption, even though he was charged last year.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan said she did not see any law preventing investigations against the former senior political secretary to the prime minister continuing, and that the issue of unfairness should not arise, Bernama reported.
Defence lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad had asked for clarity on whether the investigations into his client were complete.
He also informed the court that the defence had filed an application on Feb 4 to transfer the case to the High Court, with a hearing scheduled for April 9.
Farah said the prosecution would oppose the transfer request, and confirmed that part of the case documents had been provided to the defence under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The court set May 8 for the next case mention.
On Dec 4 last year, the former Hang Tuah Jaya MP was charged in the sessions court here with accepting RM100,000 in cash from businessman Albert Tei as an inducement to assist companies linked to Tei in securing approval for mineral exploration licences in Sabah.
He was also accused of receiving RM40,000 in cash for the same purpose, as well as furniture and electrical appliances valued at RM14,580 and RM22,249, respectively.
The following day, he was charged in the Shah Alam sessions court with receiving RM64,924 in rental payments from Tei, allegedly as an inducement to assist firms in which Tei had an interest in obtaining the same approvals.
The offences were said to have been committed between Nov 24, 2023 and March 5, 2024.
The Shah Alam case was later transferred to the Kuala Lumpur sessions court to be jointly tried with the earlier charges. - FMT
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