By Hafiz Yatim | The Edge Markets
An Aker Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd director has claimed trial at the Sessions Court to a charge of using a forged document to procure a renewal licence from Petronas.
Mohd Yusof Ab Rahman, 55, on Wednesday (Jan 26) claimed trial to a charge of forging the document titled Annual Return of a Company Having a Share Capital Aker Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd 2017.
That document, according to the charge sheet, is used as a supporting document to state that Mohd Yusof is not a nominee or trustee for shareholdings in Aker Engineering Malaysia for its application made to renew the licence of standard work equipment category (SWEC) through the Enterprise Buyer Portal.
However, Mohd Yusof is alleged as stipulated in the charge to have known that the document is false, as he is a trustee of Aker Engineering Malaysia Ltd for shareholding in Aker Engineering Malaysia.
Mohd Yusof is alleged to have committed the offence on the 17th floor, Tower 1, Petronas Twin Towers through a person named Wan Suet Yin on April 26, 2018.
The accused is charged under section 471 of the Penal Code and punishable under section 465 of the same code. He faces a maximum of two years in jail or a fine or both if convicted.
Another Aker Engineering Malaysia official given discharge not amounting to acquittal
Mohd Yusof’s charge on Wednesday came after another Aker Engineering Malaysia official, namely its manager Ahmad Hatta Kamaruzzaman, was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in November last year.
Ahmad Hatta was charged with cheating Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Deputy Public Prosecutor Law Chin How appeared for the prosecution while senior lawyers S. Devanandan and Amer Hamzah Arshad appeared for Mohd Yusof.
Law offered bail of RM10,000 with one surety, and Devanandan agreed to this.
Devanandan, however, objected to the manner in which Mohd Yusof was charged. He said the charge faced by his client is based on the same report made against Ahmad Hatta, who was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal after the defence had made a preliminary objection on the matter.
“Now it involves another director, eight months after Ahmad Hatta is charged. We say that this is frivolous, vexatious, scandalous, and an abuse of the court process. This goes to show they (the MACC) are holding things.
“We are giving notice that we are making a preliminary objection to this charge today. We hope the DPP will consider revealing whatever it has in the investigation papers. My client is not a normal man in the street, as he is a director, and by the stroke of the pen, he is charged today. This involves his reputation, honour, and family,” Devanandan said.
He urged the prosecution to consider reviewing the charge.
Amer Hamzah told the court the charge on the face of it was bad in law and groundless.
“We urge the prosecution to re-look into it and we are giving notice of making a preliminary objection on the charge,” Amer Hamzah said.
Law in response said the prosecution disagreed with what was said by the defence in court and would reserve making submission, if any, later; if there is any, proper application is made in this court.
The DPP asked the court to fix a date for the handover of documents that are to be used in the trial.
Following this, Sessions judge Azura Alwi fixed Feb 25 for case management for the handover of documents. She also imposed a bail of RM10,000 with one surety on Mohd Yusof.
