KUALA LUMPUR (July 21): Former Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan has failed in his application to strike out two graft charges against him involving the Jana Wibawa initiative.
“The application is dismissed. We will proceed with the trial,” said Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob on Friday (July 21).
Deputy public prosecutor Rasyidah Murni Adzli then told the court that the prosecution will be calling 27 witnesses to testify in the trial.
Rozina set March 25 and 27, April 29 and 30, and May 20 to 22, 2024 as the hearing dates for the trial.
Before her decision, the judge allowed the prosecution and Wan Saiful’s lawyers to make additional oral submissions. The lawmaker is represented by lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad and Chetan Jethwani.
Previously, Amer had asked for a discharge not amounting to acquittal under Section 173 (g) of the Criminal Procedure Code. He had also argued the application for discharge can be made at any point in time and not just at the end of the prosecution’s stage of the trial.
However the prosecution objected and said that the charges were “good in law”.
Wan Saiful was charged under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 with soliciting bribes to help Nepturis Sdn Bhd secure a Central Spine Road project from the federal government through pre-qualification in April 2022.
He is accused of soliciting an unspecified amount for the RM232 million project from a person by the name of Lian Tan Chuan.
He was also charged under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act with receiving RM6.96 million through his company’s CIMB Bank account under WSA Advisory Group Sdn Bhd from Nepturis, as an inducement to help Nepturis secure a letter of award for the same project.
The offences were allegedly committed between July 8 and Sept 30 in 2022.
Both charges under the MACC Act are punishable under Section 24 of the same act, and carry a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.