Sabak Bernam MP and five others charged with graft

FINAL UPDATE

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

SHAH ALAM, Nov 3 — After waiting for hours at the Shah Alam Sessions Court this morning, Sabak Bernam Umno MP and former Sg Air Tawar assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakri was charged with graft.

He claimed trial to the eight charges for abusing funds worth RM10,000 and producing a fake invoice for a bogus event in his former state constituency.

In the charge sheet, the Sabak Bernam MP was accused of submitting a form with fake details including the purchase of gifts requesting for allocations for several public events which did not take place.

The court set bail at RM30,000, with guarantor, for all charges and hearing has been fixed for Dec 14.

Rahman was accompanied in court by a large crowd of supporters from Sabak Bernam, along with several MPs.

Charged alongside Abdul Rahman is his aide, Mohd Rosli Bushra, who claim trial to similar charges as the former. He was charged at a separate court here and posted bail which was set at RM 9,000.

The same court also set bail of RM5,000 for Wong Choon Hau, a special aide to Selangor exco Ronnie Liu, who was accused of committing criminal breach of trust.

The first charge involves the alleged abuse of allocation for a public event in Sg Pelek worth RM5,000, the second for producing a fake invoice for the supply of car flags worth RM2,500 and the third for another abuse of state allocation worth RM2,500.

Hearing has been set from March 29 to April 9, 2010. Nine witnesses will be called to testify.

Meanwhile, the former aide to Selangor Mentri Besar, Yahya Saari, claims trial to two charges of tricking a donor to donate RM50,000 for a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) event and for producing a fake involice for another PKR event.

Court set bail at RM10,000 with surety. Hearing date for the first charge is set at April 12 to 16, 2010 and the second charge from April 19 to 23, 2010.

Two others were also charged with graft today. Firdaus Abu Karim, a director with a GLC, claimed trial to seven charges of graft.

He was charged with providing fake invoices to an accomplice who allegedly abused state allocations through a fake state government application from worth RM 10,000 for several bogus events.

His accomplice, former Gerakan Teratai state lawmaker, Yap Soo Soon, was charged with the same charges as Firdaus in a separate court here.

Bail for Firdaus was set at RM8,000 for all charges with a guarantor and Yap at RM 25,000. Both Firdaus and Yap will be tried together.

Mention date has been set for Dec 14 with the hearing fixed for April 26 to May 7, 2010 for Firdaus, while Yap will face trial from May 3 to 7 next year.