In a surprising turn of events, businessperson Tan Boon Eng, who was charged with giving a bribe of RM1 million to former minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, has pleaded guilty to an alternative charge today.
The process was done in-camera and the media was not allowed to cover the court proceedings. Today was originally supposed to be the hearing of Tan's application to postpone his joint trial with Tengku Adnan which was expected to kick off on Thursday.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court fined Tan RM1.5 million after he pleaded guilty to the alternative charge under Section 165 of Penal Code for abetting Tengku Adnan in committing the offence.
The charge, under Section 109 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 165 of the same law, provides for imprisonment for up to two years, or fine, or both, upon conviction.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said Tan will be sentenced to one year in prison if he fails to pay by tomorrow.
"After taking into consideration the plea-bargaining process, the appropriate sentence and apportionment with the plea of guilty made by the accused is a fine of RM1.5 million in default which is imprisonment of one year. The payment is to be paid tomorrow," ruled Nazlan.
The judge said he meted out the punishment after considering that Tan had pleaded guilty to the alternative charge before the corruption trial had commenced thus saving the court time and cost.
The court also noted that this was Tan's first conviction.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim said Tan will be made one of the witnesses in the corruption trial against the former federal territories minister.
"Of course, he is going to be one of the witnesses," said Julia, adding that Tan had negotiated for a non-custodial sentence in return for his guilty plea.
According to her, the prosecution asked the court to fine Tan between Rm750,000 and RM1.5 million after which the court chose for the maximum fine amount.
Earlier last month, the court allowed the prosecutor's application for Tengku Adnan and Tan to be jointly tried. Julia said she expected Tengku Adnan's trial to commence on Thursday as scheduled.
Tan, clad in dark suit, left the court without speaking to the media.
In November last year, Tan was charged under Section 16(b)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 with bribing Tengku Adnan via a Public Bank cheque belonging to Pekan Nenas Industries Sdn Bhd, which was deposited into the former minister's CIMB account.
The alleged payment, made on Dec 27, 2013, was for Tengku Adnan, who is widely referred to as Ku Nan, for giving approval to the company's application to increase the plot ratio for land on Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur.
Tan also faces an alternative charge under Section 165 of Penal Code for abetting Tengku Adnan in committing the offence, and punishable under Section of 109 of Penal Code.
On Nov 15, last year, Tengku Adnan pleaded not guilty to a charge of corruptly receiving RM1 million from Tan to approve an application by a company to increase the plot ratio relating to a development project in Jalan Semarak. -Mkini
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