Shamsubahrin Ismail is accused of cheating the NFC chairman of RM1.7 million. The 45-year-old businessman has claimed trial.
Shamsubahrin Ismail, 45, dressed in a dark blazer, purple shirt and light blue jeans, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to two separate charges, both under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
The first charge read that Shamsubahrin, CEO of Shamsubahrin Ismail Resources Sdn Bhd, had cheated Mohamad Salleh by promising the NFC chairman his consultation and negotiation services, with the knowledge that the offer was false and intended to cheat him by inducing him to part with a service fee.
This incident allegedly occurred at 6pm on Nov 20 at a restaurant in Bukit Tunku here.
The second charge was that Shamsubahrin had, between Nov 25 till Dec 6, received cheques amounting to RM1.755 million from Mohamad Salleh at Solaris in Mont Kiara.
For the offence of cheating, Shamsubahrin could face between one to 10 years jail, with whipping and can also be fined.
It was reported last week that a “Datuk fixit” was arrested by the police and handed over to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for allegedly attempting to bribe several senior investigators to “settle” the case over the NFC.
MACC’s head of prosecution Abdul Razak Musa, who handled the case, told reporters that the suspect was being charged with cheating instead of corruption because it related to “corruption and an attempt to influence somebody”.
Earlier, Abdul Razak asked the court to set bail at RM300,000 and seize the accused’s passport as this was a case of public interest.
Shamsubahrin’s defence lawyer J Rao argued that his client should be considered innocent until proven guilty and bail should not be punitive in nature.
Asking that bail be lowered, he said Shamsubahrin’s assets had been frozen by the MACC and his client was dependant on his family for money.
Rao also said Shamsubahrin was married and had four children, the eldest being 18 and youngest three.
Judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain set bail at RM300,000 with one surety and ordered for Shamsubahrin’s passport to be consficated.
Mention was fixed on Jan 31 next year where the prosecution would submit documents relating to the case.
Of cattle and condos
Last week, MACC officers went to the NFC main office in Jalan Solaris in Mont Kiara and seized documents and a CPU.
A day before that, police arrested a 45-year-old businessman for allegedly attempting to bribe senior officers who were investigating the NFC scandal. The individual, who was also being investigated over numerous cheating cases, including seven in Kuala Lumpur, was later handed over to the MACC.
In the latest in a series of exposés, PKR said Shahrizat’s family owned a luxury condominium worth RM10 million in Singapore.
It was revealed that the 2,282 sq ft unit at Anthony Road, Orchard Scotts, was purchased in January 2010, and was registered under the name of Shahrizat’s husband and their children.
PKR accused Shahrizat’s family of misappropriating the RM250 million of public funds meant for NFC.
In earlier revelations, it said large sums were used to purchase a luxury condominium in Bangsar and a luxury car. It also claimed that the beef that NFC produced was channelled to restaurants belonging to Shahrizat’s family.
Shahrizat, who heads Wanita Umno, denied that she was involved in any wrongdoing. However, she faces growing calls to quit as minister, not only from opposition parties, but from within Barisan Nasional and Umno as well.
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