Pakatan wants A-G to explain why charges against Musa dropped

Updated 3 years ago · Published on 9 Jun 2020 6:10PM · 6 Comments

Pakatan Harapan says Attorney-General Idrus Harun must give a full account of why the charges against former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman were dropped. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 9, 2020.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Idrus Harun must explain why his office withdrew the 46 corruption and money-laundering charges against former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, said Pakatan Harapan.

“The Attorney-General’s Chamber’s decision is confounding and disappointing as the 46 charges involved corruption of more than US$50 million (RM213 million).

“This is neither a small sum or simple charges,” said the opposition in a statement today.

PH said Idrus, who was picked by Perikatan Nasional as the new A-G, should give a full account of why the charges against Musa were withdrawn.

Musa was acquitted by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin today after allowing the prosecution to withdraw the charges.

His acquittal comes less than a month after Riza Aziz, former prime minister Najib Razak’s stepson, was granted a discharge not amounting to acquittal after being charged with five counts of money-laundering involving a sum of US$248 million.

Today’s acquittal means Musa cannot be tried again for the same offence.

Lead defence counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad said unlike Riza’s case, Musa’s legal team had earlier filed an application to set aside the charges, arguing they were defective and smacked of political persecution.

The defence had also claimed that the monies Musa received were political donations.

“We have a strong case to strike out the charges on grounds of abuse of process, political persecution, and mala fide (acting in bad faith) prosecution.

“Musa was cleared by the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in 2012.

“So, we argued that despite that, charges were filed against my client after the 2018 general elections. Why the wait? Tan Sri Musa Aman should not have been charged in November 2018 in the first place because he had been cleared by the MACC and ICAC,” Amer had said.

Amer said the decision to withdraw the charges against his client today was “the right decision based on the facts and circumstances of this case.”

Musa was slapped with 30 charges of corruption and 16 charges of money-laundering.

He was accused of abusing his position as the chief minister and Sabah Foundation chairman to receive US$50 million (RM213 million) from eight logging concessionaires as inducement to approve logging concessions for 16 companies between 2004 and 2008. – June 9, 2020. 

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Comments

  • Malaysia boleh ..... again

    Posted 3 years ago by Chai Hin Goh · Reply

  • 46 shots and all missedpoor shooter

    Posted 3 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • The AG should plead incompetence as his best defence, as the alternative narrative is damning.

    Posted 3 years ago by Arul Inthirarajah · Reply

  • Hahaha. Malaysia is the best place for thieves to roam around. Wonder any comments from ketuanan? Hahaha

    Posted 3 years ago by Chua Yeow Fatt · Reply

  • Explain? No need to explain in Malaysia.

    Posted 3 years ago by Chua Yeow Fatt · Reply

  • Explain? No need to explain in Malaysia.

    Posted 3 years ago by Chua Yeow Fatt · Reply