Ex-Kota Tinggi MP pleads not guilty to 2 graft charges
JOHOR BARU: Former Kota Tinggi member of parliament Datuk Noor Ehsanuddin Mohd Harun Narrashid pleaded not guilty to two charges of corruption at the Sessions Court here yesterday.
Noor Ehsanuddin, 56, was Kota Tinggi member of parliament from 2013 to 2018.
On the first charge, Noor Ehsanuddin, who is a former Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) director, is accused of receiving a cash deposit of RM50,000 from Karya Hidayah Sdn Bhd.
He is accused of committing the offence at a Malayan Banking Bhd branch in Kluang on Sept 6 in 2013.
On the second charge, he is accused of receiving a plot of land in Mukim Kota Tinggi, measuring 0.1421ha and worth RM180,000, from Karya Hidayah.
He allegedly committed the offence at the Kota Tinggi Land Office on March 23, 2014.
For both offences, he was charged under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which carries the penalty of a jail sentence of up to two years, or a fine, or both.
Noor Ehsanuddin, represented by Datuk T. Thrichelvam and Vincent Lawrence, pleaded not guilty in front of judge Kamarudin Kamsun after the charges were read out to him.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Khazrin Haffiz Khalil requested bail to be set at RM40,000, which was not objected to by the accused’s counsel.
Kamarudin set bail at RM40,000 in one surety, and fixed March 27 for re-mention of the case.
It was reported on Saturday that Noor Ehsanuddin was arrested at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya at 12.40pm.
In a statement, MACC said Noor Ehsanuddin was suspected of using his position in Felda to propose and approve the appointment of a printing company, in which he is believed to have an interest, to publish the 1Suara di Felda newspaper from 2012 to 2015 — a deal valued at RM13 million.