Court allows Abdul Azeez’s application to stay hearing of corruption, money laundering case

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday allowed an application by former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, who is facing three charges for corruption and 10 charges for money laundering, to stay hearing of the case pending the outcome of his appeal at the Court of Appeal to strike out all the charges.

Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin made the decision after finding that there were special circumstances that justified the court to use its discretion to stay the hearing at the Sessions Court.

“After considering the submission by the counsel and taking into account the no objection by the prosecution, the court hereby allows the application by the applicant (Abdul Azeez).

“The court also considers the principles of law in an application to stay the hearing. In this case, there are special circumstances that justify the court to stay the trial proceedings in the Sessions Court until the disposal of the applicant’s appeal in the Court of Appeal,” he added.

On March 12, Abdul Azeez failed in his bid to quash the charges following Muhammad Jamil’s decision in dismissing the appeal on the ground that the charges were not defective and based on the provisions of the law.

Abdul Azeez then filed an appeal against the dismissal of his application to the Court of Appeal on the same day (March 12), while the application to stay the proceeding at the Sessions Court was filed last April 8.

Earlier, lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, representing Abdul Azeez, submitted that on the fact that the prosecution did not object to the stay application showed that they appreciated the dynamics of the proceedings that there was no prejudice to the state.

“There would be no prejudice to the prosecution, rather it will prejudice the applicant (Abdul Azeez) if stay is not allowed,” he said, adding that the appeal has been fixed for case management on June 8 at the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Adam Mohamed told the court that the prosecution had received instruction from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to not object the stay application.

Abdul Azeez was charged with three counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM5.2 million in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah and 10 counts of money laundering involving a total of RM13.9 million which he allegedly received from Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd.