SHAH ALAM – Two Aman Palestin Bhd board members and one affiliate have claimed trial to 164 charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and cheating involving RM45.5 million in funds linked to the non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The trio – Aman Palestin executive director Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, chief executive officer Awang Suffian Awang Piut and one Khairudin Mohd Ali – pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out to them before judge Datuk Anita Harun at the sessions court here.
The charges were framed under Section 409 and 420 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust and cheating, respectively, as well as Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amla) 2001 for abetting the commission of money laundering.
The trio are accused of having committed the offences between 2018 and 2023 within their capacity as Samudra Champa Sdn Bhd directors.
Zaik and Awang Suffian separately pleaded not guilty to 52 identical criminal breach of trust charges involving the same RM20.94 million worth of Aman Palestin-owned assets in the form of cash.
The duo also maintained their innocence when jointly charged with 19 counts of cheating by allegedly marking-up prices of gold bars sold to Aman Palestin.
The pair is accused of dishonestly increasing the cost of the material by RM5.75 million throughout multiple transactions between September 2021 and July 2023.
They also claimed trial when charged with 19 separate counts of identical money laundering charges involving RM12.8 million in funds.
The court allowed bail at RM1 million for all charges against each of the duo along with one surety after deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib submitted that the defence and prosecution had agreed to request for the amount to be paid in half today while the remaining amount will be paid by March 13.
The defence, represented by lawyer Siti Mardhiyyah Zamani, and the prosecution agreed that the duo should surrender their passports to the court.
The judge accepted the submissions and set case mention for March 13.
While Siti Mardhiyyah was the sole defence counsel in court today, the three accused are also represented by Datuk Zamani Ibrahim.
For the record, Siti Mardhiyyah and Zamani are the daughter and husband of Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.
The judge accepted the submissions and set case mention for March 13.
Meanwhile, Khairudin, who was accused of three counts of money laundering offences totalling RM6.03 million, will have to pay an RM200,000 bail with one surety.
The amount will have to be paid in half today while the remaining charge has to be completed before the case mention, which is also on March 13.
In October last year, Perlis Mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin raised doubts about Aman Palestin’s fundraising activities and wrote to the Perlis Islamic Affairs Department, asking it to halt the collection of funds for Palestine by the NGO at mosques and surau in the state.
About a month later, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission froze 41 Aman Palestin-linked bank accounts amounting to RM15.86 million as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in the NGO’s fundraising activities for war-torn Gaza.
The agency had also conducted a search at the organisation’s premises, obtaining financial and operational management documents spanning the past five years. – February 15, 2024