A senior MACC enforcement officer today pleaded guilty to a lesser misappropriation charge involving US$6.94 million (RM25 million) cash evidence linked to a major corruption case.
As a result, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court sentenced Shahrum Nizam Baharuddin to a three-year jail term and two strokes of the whip.
On Jan 4, the 40-year-old accused claimed trial to a heavier misappropriation charge (under Section 409 of the Penal Code) involving the evidence linked to a case against former Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation (MEIO) director-general Hasanah Abdul Hamid.
However, with Shahrum today pleading guilty to the lesser property misappropriation charge under Section 403 of the Penal Code, the prosecution has dropped the Section 409 charge against him.
The Section 409 charge carried a punishment of maximum 20 years in jail, fine, and whipping.
Hasanah was in 2018 charged with criminal breach of trust involving RM50.4 million belonging to the government.
The MACC seized cash and other belongings from her in relation to the investigation. In April last year, however, she was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the court.
discharge not amounting to an acquittal
Following this, she went to MACC to reclaim the seized cash but found RM25 million missing.
During proceedings before trial judge Suzana Hussin this morning, Shahrum affirmed the facts of the case when they were read out by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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