By Tarani Palani | The Edge Malaysia
Former Lembaga Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim was slapped with one charge of graft linked to construction company Putrajaya Perdana Bhd on Wednesday.
Abdul Azeez, who headed the pilgrims fund board from 2013 to 2018, is accused of misusing his position in August 2014 to land himself the role of chairman of Putrajaya Perdana, which came with an annual salary of RM690,000 and a BMW 7 Series car along with a driver.
Abdul Azeez was chairman of Putrajaya Perdana from January 2015 to 2018.
He is also alleged to have instructed Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, the chief executive officer of Tabung Haji at the time of the alleged offence, to propose him as the representative of the pilgrims fund board in Putrajaya Perdana.
The former Baling member of parliament is also accused of convincing the board of Tabung Haji to approve an investment of up to RM193.5 million in Putrajaya Perdana.
The charge is framed under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009. If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Abdul Azeez, handcuffed and dressed in a purple police lock-up T-shirt, pleaded not guilty before Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi.
“I understand and the charge is not true at all. I claim trial,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Abdul Azeez was produced in another court for remand proceedings linked to another investigation.
In that case, Abdul Azeez was remanded for two days to assist investigations under Section 420 of the penal code. The probe is over Tabung Haji’s hibah, or gift, payouts to depositors.
Bail set at RM450,000
Judge Azura set bail at RM450,000 with two sureties and for the accused to report to MACC offices in KL every three months.
The prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Ahmad Akram Gharib, had initially asked for bail to be set at RM1 million with additional terms, given the severity of the offence.
Defence counsel Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad argued that the amount was too high and cited his client’s cooperation with the authorities over the many years of investigations.
“This is not something new. It started as early as 2017, and he has been cooperating with investigators since 2018, 2019,” Amer Hamzah said, adding that his client was not a flight risk.
He asked for bail to be set at not more than RM500,000.
The case comes up for mention on Nov 11.
Tabung Haji RCI aftermath
Abdul Azeez is the latest person to be charged after the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Tabung Haji’s mismanagement was released in July.
The report flagged 14 problematic investments, including in Putrajaya Perdana that resulted in a RM193.5 million loss.
This is not Abdul Azeez’s first time in court. In December 2022, he was acquitted of three counts of allegedly accepting RM5.2 million in bribes and six charges of laundering a total of RM972,414.60 in relation to road projects in Perak and Kedah between 2010 and 2018.
The attorney general at the time, Tan Sri Idrus Harun, had said the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Edited by Jason Ng & Syed Azahedi
