KU NAN ACQUITTED
Court of Appeal overturns former minister’s one-year jail sentence and RM2 million fine
DATUK Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor or Ku Nan is now a free man after the Court of Appeal yesterday acquitted and discharged him over a RM2 million graft charge, which saw him ordered to serve a 12-month jail term and pay a RM2 million fine.
In a 2-1 majority decision, the three-member bench led by Datuk Suraya Othman allowed Tengku Adnan’s appeal to set aside the High Court’s decision on Dec 21 last year.
Clad in a red shirt, Tengku Adnan and his entourage recited a prayer outside the courtroom when the proceedings ended.
The Putrajaya member of parliament, however, declined to talk to pressmen before he left the building.
Earlier, Suraya said High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan had made an error in judgment.
She said there was no evidence to show that the key witness, property tycoon Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong, had been dishonest when testifying. She said Chai confirmed that the money that he gave to Tengku Adnan was a political donation for Umno to be used for the by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar, and not for the appellant.
“The trial judge failed to consider the failure of the prosecution to re-examine its own key witness on whether the money was a political donation for Umno.
“The conviction is therefore unsafe. We allow the appeal and set aside the appellant’s conviction.”
Suraya said the defence had created a doubt in the prosecution’s case and there was an appealable error that warranted appellate intervention.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Nasfy Yasin concurred with Suraya, while judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais dissented.
In his dissenting judgment, Abu Bakar said the trial judge did not err in convicting Tengku Adnan and that the prosecution had proved all the ingredients of the charge.
“He (Tengku Adnan) received RM2 million from Chai when he was a public servant. He knew Chai had connections with his official duty as minister.
“There was no evidence that Tengku Adnan had spent the money for the by-elections,” he said, adding that the money was clearly not a political donation.
On April 22, counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, who represented Tengku Adnan, submitted that Chai had clearly testified that a cheque he issued was a political donation to Umno for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections.
“In the witness statement, Chai (who was the 19th prosecution witness) testified that the RM2 million was his contribution to
Tengku Adnan after the latter said he needed a political fund of between RM5 million and RM6 million for two by-elections.
“Tan Sri Chai also confirmed that the sum of RM2 million was a political donation to Umno and not for the appellant (Tengku Adnan).”
Hock Chuan also submitted that there was a serious error by the learned trial judge Zaini when he imported his personal knowledge that the Umno receipt was “crisp and new” when there was no evidence to that effect.
Deputy public prosecutor Asmah Musa, in her submission, contended that Tengku Adnan had obtained the money for himself and that it was not a political contribution as there was an absence of orderly records based on the receipt issued.
On Dec 21 last year, the High Court sentenced the Federal Territories minister to 12 months’ jail after finding him guilty of corruption by receiving RM2 million for himself from a businessman.
The court also imposed a RM2 million fine on Tengku Adnan after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case against the accused.
Tengku Adnan was charged in his capacity as a civil servant, namely the Federal Territories minister, with having received for himself RM2 million from Kin Kong, who was a director of Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd (AKSB).
It was done via a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque belonging to the company, which was deposited into a CIMB account owned by Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, which Tengku Adnan had an interest in and was known to AKSB as being related to his official duties. The offence was allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Bhd, Pusat Bandar Damansara, here, on June 14, 2016.