Wan Saiful Gets Temporary Passport Release For Japan Trip

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The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court allowed Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s application for the temporary release of his passport for the Tasek Gelugor MP's 10-day official parliamentary trip to Japan.
Judge Rozina Ayob's greenlight this morning followed on the heels of deputy public prosecutor Maziah Mohaide over the temporary release of the passport, which was kept by the criminal court as part of bail conditions over his ongoing graft case linked to the Jana Wibawa programme.
When met after mention of the case, the accused's counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad confirmed that the application was for a Japan working trip from Sept 23 to Oct 2 involving a Parliamentary Special Committee on Infrastructure.
The lawyer said that they have received a letter from the Dewan Rakyat Secretariat Office to discuss the trip's itinerary on Sept 14.
Amer added that the court's greenlight for the temporary release of the passport is on the condition that the defence team would provide further documents regarding the flight tickets as well as a copy of the letter from the Dewan Rakyat Secretariat Office.
Flight tickets
It is understood that the passport needed to be released early in order to ensure the smooth purchase of flight tickets for Wan Saiful's trip.
Previously, the court has set eight days next year for a full trial of the case against the former Bersatu information chief: March 25-27, April 29-30, and May 20-22, 2024.
On Feb 21, Wan Saiful claimed trial to two charges - first, for allegedly soliciting a bribe of an unspecified amount and second, for allegedly receiving a bribe of RM6.96 million between July 8 and Sept 30, 2022.
The PN lawmaker was accused of soliciting a bribe from one Lian Tan Chuan.
The alleged bribe was purportedly to help Nepturis Sdn Bhd secure the “Central Spine Road: Sertik Ke Persimpangan Lebuhraya Pantai Timur” project from the federal government through pre-qualification.
The project was supposed to be valued at RM232 million.
The second charge accused Wan Saiful (above) of receiving, through his company WSA Advisory Group Sdn Bhd, the RM6.96 million from Nepturis as an inducement to help the latter secure a letter of award for the same project.
He faces imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine not less than five times the value of the inducement.
The criminal court set bail at RM400,000 and ordered Wan Saiful’s passport to be confiscated, pending disposal of the case.
Jana Wibawa, an acronym for “Program Jana Ekonomi Pemerkasaan Kontraktor Bumiputera Berwibawa”, was a Covid-19 stimulus programme for bumiputera contractors.
The Muhyiddin Yassin administration introduced it in November 2020.
In July this year, Parliament was told that the current Anwar Ibrahim-helmed administration had frozen Jana Wibawa projects worth RM5.7 billion, pending investigations. - Mkini

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