SHOCK RE-ARREST & PROSECUTION OF HISHAM’S FORMER SPECIAL OFFICER – NAJIB’S ‘SANDIWARA’ TO PACIFY UMNO FOES?

A former special officer to Hishammuddin Hussein when he was acting transport minister has been charged with corruption at the Shah Alam Sessions Court this morning.

Zailan Jauhari, who was reported to still be working for Hishammuddin in Feb 2014, pleaded not guilty to a charge of receiving RM80,000 in bribes in Jan 2014.

The charge involved securing school cleaning tenders from the Education Ministry for two companies.

Zailan is being charged under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and can be sentenced under Section 24 of the same act.

If guilty he can be jailed up to 20 years and fined up to five times the amount of the bribe.

Judge Asmadi Hussin set bail at RM30,000 and fixed case management on Feb 13.

Zailan is accused of receiving a RM20,000 in cash on Jan 8, 2014 and a RM60,000 cheque on Jan 10 that year from one Siti Rahmah Sabli at a restaurant in Kuala Selangor.

The charge sheet stated that the bribe was to facilitate a transaction “which may have happened”, that is to secure school cleaning tenders in Kuala Selangor zone 2 and zone 4 for KCM Maju Resources and Sri Kajang Jaya respectively.

An online check of a list of tenders approved by the Education Ministry showed that KCM Maju Jaya had secured a cleaning contract for Kuala Selangor zone 2 from Jun 1, 2016 to May 31, 2018.

Both KCM Maju Jaya and Sri Kajang Jaya are listed as enabled suppliers on the government’s procurement website.

DPP Mohammad Heikal Ismail said Zailan was first arrested in 2014, and released on a MACC bail.

Today the prosecution first requested bail to be set at RM50,000.

However Zailan’s lawyer Fadzil Manan requested for leniency, saying the accused was the sole breadwinner for his family, and employed as a government contract worker earning RM2,300 a month.

He also claimed that the accused had fully cooperated with the MACC.

The prosecution rebutted this, saying Zailan had failed to report to the MACC after his bail.

Heikal said the accused was only in court because graft-buster arrested him earlier this morning.

– M’kini