Ex Felda Board Member Returned Money Before Probe Says Macc

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Former Felda board member Noor Ehsanuddin Mohd Harun Narrashi was freed of all 29 bribery charges after the prosecution withdrew them on Sept 1. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today said former Felda board of directors’ member Noor Ehsanuddin Mohd Harun Narrashi had returned the money before the probe began on his 29 alleged bribery charges, and due to that he was acquitted.
In a statement, MACC said the acquittal was based on facts drawn from its investigations.
MACC said it started further investigation when the accused submitted his representation and statement of defence under Section 62 of the MACC Act 2009 during the trial.
“Based on the new findings and evidence, the accused proved that he had returned the money alleged to be bribes before the investigations had started,” it said.
On Sept 1, Bernama reported that Noor Ehsanuddin had been acquitted and discharged of 29 bribery charges after the prosecution withdrew the charges against him.
MACC further said it had referred the case to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and decided not to proceed with the trial after new evidence was presented.
“The decision was also made after the key witness testimony was found to be inconsistent (with the facts),” it added.
On Sept 3, Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Muhammad Mohan had asked MACC to explain why the corruption charges were dropped as it had raised a lot of questions.
“The question is why was this not looked into when he was charged in the first place,” Muhammad had said.
Noor Ehsanuddin’s counsel Hasnal Rezua Merican told reporters that MACC had investigated the defence statement and was satisfied that all transactions as stated in the charges were advances that had been fully repaid. - FMT

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