Photo: Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has postponed the hearing of an appeal against the acquittal of Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and his wife Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad from three corruption charges involving RM2.8mil linked to a Felcra Bhd investment.
A three-judge panel pushed the hearing date to Oct 9 after being informed that Bung's lawyer, M. Athimulan, was unwell following his return from India earlier this month.
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Zizie's lawyer, Datuk K. Kumaraendran, stated that Athimulan was first admitted to a hospital in Tamil Nadu, India before his return.
"He is still suffering from irregular heartbeats although he is back home," said Kumaraendran on Monday (July 29).
According to Kumaraendran, Athimulan was advised by his doctors to seek further medical consultation.
The defence sought a new hearing date in November.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor Law Chin How said the prosecution had no objection to a postponement.
Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, who chaired the panel, said a date in November was "too long."
"The lower courts are in limbo and awaiting a decision by this court," he said.
The panel then fixed Oct 9 for the hearing.
Other judges on the bench were Justices Hashim Hamzah and Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
The Kinabatangan MP and his wife were acquitted and discharged on Sept 7, 2023, after the High Court allowed their revision applications to overturn the Sept 2, 2022, Sessions Court ruling that had ordered them to enter their defence on the corruption charges. The prosecution filed its appeal on Sept 18, 2023.
Bung Moktar, who was then the non-executive chairman of Felcra, was charged on May 3, 2019, with two counts of accepting bribes of RM2.2mil and RM262,500 as an inducement to obtain Felcra approval to invest RM150mil in Public Mutual unit trusts.
He was alleged to have accepted the bribes from Public Mutual Bhd’s investment agent Madhi Abdul Hamid through Zizie Izette at Public Bank's Taman Melawati Branch between 12.30pm and 5pm on June 12, 2015.
Zizie Izette was charged with three counts of abetting her husband over the matter at the same place, date, and time.
