ISA SAMAD FILES REVIEW AGAINST FEDERAL COURT’S DECISION RESTORING CORRUPTION CONVICTION, FINE AND JAIL TERM

PUTRAJAYA, March 7 (Bernama) -- Former Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad has filed an application to review the Federal Court’s decision reinstating his corruption conviction, RM15.45 million fine and six-year prison sentence.

His lawyer Datuk Abu Bakar Isa Ramat, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed that the notice of motion was filed on March 4.

The application, under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995, was filed through law firm Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak.

Abu Bakar said the review application was filed on Mohd Isa’s instruction.

Mohd Isa, 76, is currently serving the six-year prison sentence after the Federal Court on Feb 10 restored his corruption conviction, jail term and RM15.45 million fine, with an additional two years’ imprisonment in default of payment.

The Federal Court three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Nordin Hassan, allowed the prosecution’s appeal and overturned the Court of Appeal’s 2024 decision that had acquitted Mohd Isa of nine corruption charges.

The bench restored the High Court’s Feb 3, 2021 decision sentencing him to six years’ imprisonment and imposing a RM15.45 million fine.

The former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar was accused of receiving RM3.09 million in bribes from Ikhwan Zaidel, then a director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd (GAPSB), via his former special officer, Muhammad Zahid Md Arip as an inducement for approving the purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) in Kuching by Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FICSB) for RM160 million.

In the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Nordin held that the High Court had correctly found Mohd Isa received the gratification, triggering the presumption of Section 50 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

Section 50 (1) is presumption provision that establishes a legal presumption that any gratification accepted, given, or solicited is presumed to have been corruptly received, accepted or solicited unless the contrary is proven.

Justice Nordin said although conveying 'salam' through an intermediary is a customary practice among Muslims, in the case of Mohd Isa, it expressed a ‘different connotation’. 

"The respondent's (Mohd Isa) communication to SP21 (Muhammad Zahid), together with the 'salam', supported the evidence of solicitation or demand for the bribe money,” he said.

-- BERNAMA