The Federal Court has scheduled Feb 10 to deliver its verdict on the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad on nine corruption charges involving RM3.09 million.
A three-member bench led by Federal Court Judge Datuk Nordin Hassan said the court required additional time to review submissions from both parties and assess the earlier Court of Appeal ruling. “The decision is fixed for Feb 10 at 9.00 am,” he confirmed. The panel also included Justices Datuk Lee Swee Seng and Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.
The appeal follows the Court of Appeal’s March 6, 2024 decision, which overturned Mohd Isa’s High Court conviction and the six-year jail term with an RM15.45 million fine. Mohd Isa, 77, was convicted by the High Court on Feb 3, 2021, on nine counts of corruption allegedly committed between July 15, 2014, and Dec 15, 2015, at the 49th floor of Menara Felda, Platinum Park, Kuala Lumpur.
The former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar was accused of receiving RM3.09 million in gratification from Ikhwan Zaidel, then director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd, via his former special officer, Muhammad Zahid Md Arip. The payment was said to have been an inducement for approving Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd’s RM160 million purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites in Kuching, Sarawak.
During the appeal hearing, which lasted about 43 minutes, Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz argued that Mohd Isa had “innocently been asked for, but corruptly received” the gratification. He told the court that Mohd Isa had accepted bribes on nine occasions through Muhammad Zahid, following meetings with Ikhwan, and that the bribes were delivered in stages at Mohd Isa’s Felda office. Afzainizam maintained that the Court of Appeal had erred in overturning the High Court judgment and urged the Federal Court to reinstate the conviction, stressing that physical possession of the bribe money was not necessary to prove a gratification offence under Malaysian law.
Mohd Isa’s lawyer, M M Athimulan, countered that the Court of Appeal had correctly found no credible evidence that Mohd Isa had influenced or approved the FICSB board’s decision. He argued that the High Court’s suggestion that Mohd Isa’s “salam” request was a coded demand for gratification was speculative and lacked direct evidence. Athimulan urged the Federal Court to uphold the acquittal, maintaining that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
