KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Datuk Ranjeet Singh Sidhu, former managing director of a telecommunications firm, has been charged with corruption over a RM400 million loan to finance a fibre optic network project in Malaysia.
Ranjeet, 55, has been charged with presenting a fraudulent agreement to fulfil the requirements for the loan application from Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd, according to the charge sheet reviewed by The Edge. The offence was allegedly committed in June 2012, the charge sheet noted.
He was charged under Section 471 of the Penal Code, which if found guilty would result in jail of up to two years, a fine, or both.
The case revolves around a private project by Aries Telecoms (M) Bhd, formerly known as V Telecoms Bhd, to develop a sprawling coastal fibre optic network around Peninsular Malaysia.
Ranjeet allegedly produced a “joint completion guarantee” dated June 21, 2012 between V Telecoms Bhd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to Bank Pembangunan to obtain the loan. The falsified document were submitted at the bank’s head office on June 29, 2012, the charge sheet said.
The project was never fully built as Bank Pembangunan found out following its own probe in January 2022. Bank Pembangunan filed a suit against its managing director during the loan disbursement and 26 others over the matter later that year.
Ranjeet was also charged with a more serious offence giving out RM8 million bribe to secure the approval for the project loan, the charge sheet showed.
He was accused to have committed the offence at Maybank, Jalan Maarof, in July 2, 2012 through a businesswoman who acted as an intermediary.
The second charge was under Section 16(b)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24(1) of the same law.
If convicted, Ranjeet faces jail term of up to 20 years and fine of at least five times the bribe amount.
He claimed trial to the two charges before Sessions Court judge Rosli Ahmad on Monday.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission prosecuted.
Rosli set bail at RM150,000 and fixed March 30 for mention.