{"id":5193,"date":"2020-07-24T12:45:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T04:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=5193"},"modified":"2020-07-24T12:45:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T04:45:15","slug":"ahmad-maslan-fails-in-bid-to-strike-out-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=5193","title":{"rendered":"Ahmad Maslan fails in bid to strike out charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Julai &nbsp;&#8212; The Sessions Court here today dismissed an application by Pontian Member of Parliament&nbsp;Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan to strike out charges for failing to declare to the&nbsp;Inland Revenue Board (IRB) the RM2 million which he received from former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and giving false statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption commission (MACC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judge&nbsp;&nbsp;Azman Ahmad made the decision after finding that the application filed by Ahmad, 54, last Feb 11 was premature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charges were also not flawed nor groundless, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-1024x559.jpg\" alt=\"charges\" class=\"wp-image-5194\" width=\"457\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-1024x559.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-768x420.jpg 768w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-183x100.jpg 183w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-350x191.jpg 350w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-800x437.jpg 800w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Azman handed down the decision after hearing the submissions by both parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh, representing&nbsp;Ahmad, then informed the court that the defence would appeal against the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court then set Sept 4 for next mention date and Oct 1, 2, 16 and 23, Nov 6 and Dec 24 to hear the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Siti Noor Hafizan Zakaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahmad was charged with money laundering by not stating his real income on the RM2 million&nbsp;he received from Najib&nbsp;in the Income Tax Return Form for Assessment Year 2013, and in doing so, had violated Section 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former deputy finance minister was&nbsp;alleged to have received the money from Najib, believed to be proceeds from unlawful activities,&nbsp;through an AmIslamic Bank Berhad cheque dated Nov 27, 2013,&nbsp;which he (Ahmad) personally cashed on the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The offence was allegedly committed at the IRB, Duta Branch, Government Office Complex,&nbsp;Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, on April&nbsp;30,&nbsp;2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The offence was allegedly committed at the IRB, Duta Branch, Government Office Complex,&nbsp;Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, on April&nbsp;30,&nbsp;2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge,&nbsp;framed under Section&nbsp;4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, provides a maximum fine of RM5 million, or imprisonment for up to five years, or both, if found guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the second charge, &nbsp;Ahmad was accused of giving false statements to the MACC&nbsp;when questioned by its&nbsp;investigating officer, Principal&nbsp;Senior Assistant Superintendent Mohd Zairi Zainal, over the issue at the media conference room, Parliament Building,&nbsp; Jalan Parlimen here, between&nbsp;2.45 pm and 3.30 pm on July 4, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge, framed under Section&nbsp;32(8)c) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, provides a maximum fine of RM3 million, or imprisonment for up to five years, or both, if found guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/news.php?id=1863783\">BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Julai &nbsp;&#8212; The Sessions Court here today dismissed an application by Pontian&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",1080,590,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-300x164.jpg",300,164,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-768x420.jpg",640,350,true],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2-1024x559.jpg",640,349,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",1080,590,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",1080,590,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",1080,590,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",1024,559,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/c57ec47fe9f3ac7c2e17eb191a046d305f0d699e2c8b2.jpg",720,393,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=21\" rel=\"category\">Crime<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=524\" rel=\"category\">Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5195,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5193\/revisions\/5195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}