PUTRAJAYA, Sept 5 — Former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim failed in his appeal at the Court of Appeal to strike out the nine charges, three for corruption and six for money laundering, made against him.
A three-man bench comprising Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Justice Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Justice Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali ruled that the nine charges preferred on Abdul Azeez were not defective.
In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Abu Bakar, the court ordered Abdul Azeez’s trial on the nine charges to resume in the Sessions Court.
Justice Abu Bakar, who read the court’s unanimous decision, however, allowed Abdul Azeez’s appeal to partly nullify four of the money-laundering charges.
Abdul Azeez was charged at the Sessions Court with three counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM5.2mil in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah and 10 counts of money laundering involving a total of RM13.9mil which he allegedly received from Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd.
The offences were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8, 2010 and at Affin Bank, Puchong City Centre, Selangor, on June 13, 2017, and April 10, 2018.
On the money laundering charges, Abdul Azeez was charged with committing the offences in the Klang Valley area between March 8, 2010 and Aug 30, 2018.
Abdul Azeez was appealing against a High Court decision, made on March 12 last year, which dismissed his application to strike out the three corruption charges and 10 money-laundering charges.
