Court of Appeal affirms Ku Chin Wah's acquittal

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today affirmed the acquittal of former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah on a charge of failing to declare his source of earnings five years ago.
This was after deputy public prosecutor Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Fedder informed a three-member bench chaired by Justice Datuk Mohtarudin Baki that the prosecution withdrew its final appeal against Ku's acquittal.
Mohamed Faizal said Ku had on July 20 sent a representation letter to the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) to reconsider the prosecution appeal.
He said the representation letter was accepted by the AGC and the prosecution decided not to purse the appeal and the notice of discontinuance of the appeal had also been sent to all parties on Aug 24.
Mohtarudin who heard the matter with justices Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, then struck out the appeal and affirmed the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision which upheld the acquittal of 60-year-old Ku.
Neither Ku nor his counsel was present in court today.

The prosecution had appealed against the High Court decision on Nov 22 last year, which upheld Ku's acquittal after dismissing the appeal by the prosecution against the sessions court decision.
On May 26, 2017 the sessions court had acquitted and discharged Ku of the charge after the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt at the end of the defence case.
Ku was charged with deliberately failing to comply with the public prosecutor's notice under Section 49 (1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 dated Dec 23, 2013, when he failed to declare his source of earnings in a sworn statement dated Jan 8, 2014.
He was charged with committing the offence at the MACC headquarters, Block D6, Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajaya between Dec 23, 2013 and Jan 21, 2014.
The charge under Section 49(3) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 carries a fine of up to RM1 million, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, if convicted. — Bernama