A litany of charges for trio

SHAH ALAM: It was almost a nightmare for two interpreters who had to take turns to read out 164 charges to three people charged with money laundering, criminal breach of trust and cheating involving funds meant for Palestinians.

It took the women two hours to read out the charges at the Sessions Court and ask the accused what their pleas were before judge Datuk Anita Harun.

The trio were accused of using funds from Aman Palestin, a non-profit organisation for Palestinians, to buy houses, shoplots and land, all under the name of their own company Syarikat Samudra Champa Sdn Bhd. The charges also included the purchase of 131kg of gold bullion.

The three men, all co-directors of the company, claimed trial to the charges.

Aman Palestin executive chairman Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman, 58, and chief executive officer Awang Suffian Awang Piut, 52, were accused of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and cheating involving a total of more than RM45mil. Also charged with them was company director Khairudin Mohd Ali, 42.

Abdullah Zaik and Awang Suffian were accused of embezzling about RM39.5mil while Khairuddin was charged with misappropriating about RM6mil.

The charges were framed under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA) as well as Sections 409 and 420 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust and cheating respectively.

Abdullah Zaik and Awang Suffian were slapped with 52 charges each under Section 409 of the Penal Code and 19 charges each under AMLA.

They also face 19 charges together under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

Khairudin, meanwhile, was slapped with three charges under Section 4(1)(b) of AMLA.

The trio face a jail term of not more than 15 years, a fine not less than five times of the amount misappropriated or RM5mil, whichever is higher for each of the charges under AMLA.

Both Abdullah Zaik and Awang Suffian also face a jail term of not less than two years and not more than 20 years, with whipping and a possible fine for each charge under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

For every charge under Section 420 of the Penal Code, they face a jail term of not less than a year and not more than 10 years with whipping and a possible fine.

Abdullah Zaik, Awang Suffian and Khairudin claimed trial for all the charges.

DPPs Ahmad Akram Gharib, Wirna Arifin, Nurul Atiqah Mohamad Alias and Fatin Farhana Ismail prosecuted while the accused were represented by Datuk Zamani Ibrahim and Siti Mardhiyyah Zamani.

Ahmad Akram informed Anita that both the prosecution and defence had agreed on bail of RM1mil with one surety each for Awang Suffian and Abdullah Zaik, out of which RM500,000 had to be deposited after the proceedings yesterday and the rest within a month.

As for Khairudin, both parties agreed to RM200,000 bail, with one surety and with RM100,000 to be posted after the proceedings and the remaining within a month later.

Anita agreed to the terms and also ordered that their passports be surrendered to the court.

She set March 13 for the case to be mentioned.