KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): The Sessions Court judge who had presided over former Youth and Sports Ministry personnel Otman Arsahd’s criminal case, and found him guilty of 96 counts of corruption and money laundering, had failed to appreciate all the evidence before him.
Otman’s counsel, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, argued that Sessions Court judge Kamarudin Kamsun’s grounds of judgement had not indicated at all that all the evidence before him had been given maximum evaluation.
Rafique said that Kamarudin took over the case from another Sessions Court judge who had heard about 90% of the evidence or 63 of 70 of prosecution witnesses. Kamurudin took the case over from Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi.
"There are no issues for another judge to take over. It is allowed under the law. But where does it show that he had directed his mind to all the testimonies, including cross examinations of the witnesses," the lawyer argued.
He added that in his decision, Kamarudin had said that the defence’s arguments were an afterthought and bare-denial.
"However, he wasn’t there when the cross-examination [of pertinent witnesses] took place," the defence lawyer said.
Rafique argued that his client had not got a fair trial, given that the judge had not given maximum evaluation to the evidence.
Otman is appealing Kamarudin’s 2023 decision, where the court had found the ministry’s former finance division secretary guilty of all charges and had sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM284.2 million.
According to news reports, for the 17 offences involving false claims, the court had sentenced Otman to a total of 243 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM190 million, or in default of payment, 119 months’ imprisonment.
For 15 charges of abuse of position, Otman was sentenced to 85 years’ imprisonment and fined RM10.8 million, or in default, 125 months’ imprisonment.
Meanwhile, for 64 charges of receiving proceeds from unlawful activities, the court ordered Otman to be imprisoned for three months to 11 years and fined RM83.4 million, or in default, 934 months’ imprisonment.
The court found that the defence had failed to raise any reasonable doubt and that the prosecution had successfully proved their case against Otman.
Monday is the first day of Otman’s appeal before High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin. The appeal continues on Tuesday.