THE court’s discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) of former minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor over corruption charges is causing distrust among the public towards police and the courts, said the National Patriots Association (Patriot).

It is also causing people to question if other corruption charges against five senior Umno leaders will also be dropped, Patriot president brig-gen (rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said in a statement today.

“With the discharge awarded to Tengku Adnan, the people are also asking whether the remaining court cases against five senior Umno politicians – Najib Razak, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Isa Samad, Bung Moktar and Azeez Abdul Rahim – will proceed to conclusion, or will also end in abrupt discharge, too.

“There is already a general feeling of distrust against the investigating authorities and the courts, especially when dealing in corruption cases that involve politicians in the ruling parties.

“The people have had enough of corruptions and scandals that took place in high office and want to see the culprits prosecuted in court proceedings in their entirety.

“Half-hearted prosecution and negotiation with the accused for a discharge halfway through the proceedings only leave foul words in the mouth.”

Yesterday, Tengku Adnan, who is former federal territories minister, was granted a DNAA in a RM1 million corruption case.

Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim requested that the courts grant the Putrajaya MP the discharge, citing new developments related to a particular witness who had testified.

She said investigations must be carried out before the trial can be allowed to continue.

To this, Arshad said that the public has the right to know about the “new development” regarding Tengku Adnan’s case.

“There have been two earlier corruption cases of public interest where the accused were given discharge by the courts,” he said, referring to Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz and former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday said it would investigate the new developments mentioned by the public prosecutor. It said the DNAA did not mean Tengku Adnan is fully acquitted and he can still be charged at any time if there is approval from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

The Malaysian Bar also called on the Attorney-General’s Chambers to provide the detailed grounds of the “new development”.

“The application raises questions on the investigations at this stage, right before resumption of Tengku Adnan’s trial. It is also very concerning that no time frame on further investigating this ‘new development’, has been provided,” president of the Malaysian Bar Salim Bashir said in a statement.

“The Malaysian Bar stresses that the public has the right to know the detailed explanation behind DNAA applications or withdrawal of charges in matters pertaining to public interest.”

Tengku Adnan was accused of having corruptly received RM1 million from businessman Tan Eng Boon, who had previously pleaded guilty to an alternative count of abetting the lawmaker to commit the offence. Tan was fined RM1.5 million for the offence.

The money was allegedly deposited into Tengku Adnan’s CIMB Bank account as an inducement to assist the application by Nucleus Properties Sdn Bhd to increase the company’s plot ratio in a development project on Lot 228, Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur. – December 8, 2020.