KUALA LUMPUR: Former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo was released on parole today after serving six months of a one-year jail sentence at the Kajang Prison.
A source with the Malaysian Prisons Department said Dr Khir was granted parole after the parole board members gave the green light to the application by Khir’s counsel.
“Yes, he was released on parole this evening,” said the lawyer when contacted.
On December 23, 2011, the Shah Alam High Court convicted Khir of corruptly using his position as then Selangor MB and Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) chairman to obtain land and property below the market price in 2007.
He was given a 12-month jail sentence after being found guilty of obtaining two plots of land and a bungalow in Section 7, Shah Alam for himself and his wife Zahrah Kechik, from Ditamas Sdn Bhd through its director Datuk Shamsuddin Hayroni with the inadequate payment of RM3.5 million in 2007.
He was charged with knowingly obtaining a valuable thing as a public servant without paying adequate consideration for the property that Ditamas had itself purchased at RM6.5 million in December 2004, and doing so with the knowledge that Shamsuddin had official dealings with him.
On May 30, 2013, Mohamad Khir lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal against his conviction and one-year jail term.
Prisoners granted parole through the system will carry out the rest of their sentence outside the prison and stay with their families under the supervision of parole officers.