KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): Fakhrudin Abd Karim, already facing 158 charges of gratifying himself with about RM98 million of an Islamic non-governmental organisation's (NGO) funds, was slapped with a further 17 charges of money laundering on Thursday.
He was accused of using proceeds from illegal activities to, among others, pay for building a bungalow, pay off credit card bills, and purchase luxury vehicles like Porsche, Land Rovers, Lexus, and Mercedes Benz.
The 56-year-old pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to all charges, amounting to about RM18 million, before Sessions Court judge Azrul Darus.
For the first four charges, Fakhrudin is accused of using proceeds from illegal activities to make payments totalling RM10,075,673.10 for the design a new bungalow in Bandar Kundang, Gombak, Selangor. He is the owner of the residence.
Fakhrudin is also accused of using illegal proceeds to transfer RM1,995,638.97 in three transactions to pay for his Maybank Visa Platinum credit card.
He is also charged of using illegal proceeds to make payments of RM2,393,449 for luxury vehicles registered under his name. These vehicles were a Mercedes Benz, a Range Rover SVA-BIO V8 SC, a Porsche 911 Turbo S S-A, and a Lexus RX300.
Fakhrudin is also charged with using illegal proceeds to make payments of RM1,028,695.35 for vehicles registered to other persons. These vehicles were two Toyota Alphard S-C Package and a Porsche 911 Carrera S S-A.
He is accused of committing the offence from 2021 until 2025.
On June 16, Fakhrudin was charged with 158 counts of gratifying himself with RM98.27 million Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (Ikram) Hulu Selangor's funds.
Ikram focuses on the propagation of the religion of Islam, as well as education and welfare.
During Thursday's proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Ahmad Akram Gharib suggested that the court use the same bail amount set in Shah Alam — RM500,000, with the same additional bail terms.
He also asked for the money-laundering charges to be transferred to Shah Alam to be heard together with the graft charges.
Datuk N Sivananthan of Sivananthan Advocates and Solicitors, who appeared for the accused, made no objections.