The prosecution’s appeal against former Felda chairman Isa Samad’s acquittal on nine corruption charges has been set for hearing on February 5.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has fixed February 5 next year to hear the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad on nine corruption charges.
Deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz said the new date was set during an online case management before deputy registrar Wan Fatimah Zaharah Wan Yussof today.
The hearing was initially scheduled for December 4 but was vacated as the 75-year-old Mohd Isa was hospitalised.
On March 6 last year, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel unanimously set aside Mohd Isa’s conviction and the six-year jail term and RM15.45 million fine imposed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in February 2021.
The prosecution filed a notice of appeal on March 7 this year, seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.
A subsequent petition of appeal, filed on June 26, advanced 24 grounds arguing the appellate court erred in law and fact when it acquitted Mohd Isa.
Mohd Isa was charged in 2018 with nine counts of dishonestly receiving RM3.09 million in bribes.
The bribes were allegedly received from Ikhwan Zaidel, a director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd, via Mohd Isa’s former special officer Muhammad Zahid Md Arip.
The payment was purportedly an inducement for approving Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd’s purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites in Kuching for RM160 million.
The offences were allegedly committed at Menara Felda in Kuala Lumpur between July 2014 and December 2015.
Each charge, under the MACC Act 2009, carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of at least five times the bribe amount or RM10,000 upon conviction.
