THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today reduced the prison sentence meted out to a former senior finance manager of the National Farmers’ Association (Nafas), from 55 months to 30 months.

Muhammad Saiful Iskandar Kassim, 46, was found guilty of three counts of accepting bribes, to speed up the payment process for eight fertiliser contracts last year.

Judge K. Muniandy, who made the ruling, also reduced the RM45,000 fine imposed by the Sessions Court in June last year, to RM30,000, after allowing Saiful’s appeal.

However, Muniandy rejected his appeal to aside his conviction.

“The court is of the opinion that there is no reason to interfere with the findings of fact made by the Sessions Court judge, who found the accused guilty of the three charges he was facing, and the court has made a maximum assessment of the evidence presented throughout the trial.

“The Sessions Court also considered the defence of the accused. However, the court found that the defence failed to refute the presumption under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009,” he said.

Muniandy also allowed the request of lawyer Khairul Anuar Kashim, who represented Saiful, for a stay of execution pending an appeal at the Court of Appeal. Previously, the appellant had paid a fine of RM45,000.

On June 22 last year the Sessions Court sentenced Saiful to 55 months in prison and a fine of RM45,000, after finding that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt.

He had been charged with corruptly receiving RM2,000 in each transaction, from one Mohd Nazim Ariff Nazir Ariff, which was transferred into his Maybank account, as an inducement to expedite the payment process for the contract to supply manpower and equipment to deliver fertiliser, from the Nafas warehouse at NPK Fertiliser Sdn Bhd Kedah and Agro-Tech NPK (M) Sdn Bhd to the Nafas warehouse in Sabah and Sarawak.

All the offences were allegedly committed at Dataran Maybank branch, Level 1, Tower A, Dataran Maybank, 1, Jalan Maarof, between December 10, 2015, and February 26, 2016.

The charge, under section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, carries a maximum 20 years’ jail, a fine of not less than five times the amount of the gratification, or RM10,000, whichever is higher. – Bernama, December 8, 2023.