SEREMBAN: Two former directors of a company, including the son of a former minister, claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to nine charges related to the sale and storage of government subsidised cooking oil which is a controlled item.
Muhammad Faisal Hamzah, 39, who is the son of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and Azizul Abdul Halim, 55, who were then directors of Rimba Merpati Sdn Bhd, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them before judge Mazni Nawi.
Hamzah, had previously served as domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism minister before being made home minister.
The duo, as directors of Rimba Merpati, a licensed wholesaler for subsidised cooking oil, were first individually charged with violating Rule 9(1) of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974 for having more than the allowed 50 metric tonnes of the commodity in their business premises.
As directors, they had committed an offence which was punishable under Section 22(1) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961, read together with Section 22(4) of the same legislation and Section 34 of the Penal Code.
Offenders can be fined up to RM1mil and jailed not more than three years or both upon conviction.
They allegedly committed the offence at their premises at Sinar Andalas Industrial Area in Senawang around 11.15pm on Aug 11 last year.
Rimba Merpati, as a company, was also charged with the same offence and the duo, who represented it, again pleaded not guilty.
The offence carries a fine of up to RM2mil upon conviction.
Both Muhammad Faisal and Azizul were also charged with providing false information, documents and invoices with regards to the volume of subsidised cooking oil they had in their possession and the sale of the commodity to Warisan Hasil Alam and Pasar Segar Din Maju respectively.
They were charged under Section 8(4)(b) of the Act and punishable under Section 22(1) of the same legislation read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
Offenders can be fined up to RM1mil and jailed up to three years or both upon conviction.
As a licensed entity, Rimba Merpati was also charged with the same offence. Again, as representatives of the company, the duo claimed trial to all the charges.
The offences were allegedly committed around 5pm on Aug 12, 2022, at the state Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Cooperatives department office in Seremban 2.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Sophian Zakaria then urged the court to impose a bail of RM20,000 for each charge.
"This is a public interest case as it involves a controlled item.
"The court should also consider imposing a higher bail due to the number of charges," he said.
Sophian said a higher bail was also justified as the volume of subsidised cooking oil involved in the case was big.
However, counsel for the accused Qurratu'aini Zafirah Mat Shoib asked for a lower amount, saying that the number of charges cannot be used as a yardstick to establish bail amount.
"The court should not be influenced by the number of charges or volume as the accused have yet to be proven guilty.
"The amount proposed by the prosecution is excessive as the purpose of bail is to ensure the accused were present in court (for the trial)," she said.
She went on to add that both the accused were no longer directors of the company which now had a new management.
"Both are also not flight risk as they have families to provide for," she said, adding that Azizul who is from Kuantan had 10 children while Muhammad Faisal, who lives in Kuala Lumpur, had three and that his wife was also due to give birth anytime.
Judge Mazni then allowed a total bail of RM40,000 for each of the accused and fixed June 7 for next mention.
