SHAH ALAM: Former Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) chief executive officer Datuk Madani Sahari has been charged at the Sessions Court here, this morning, with one count of receiving RM5 million bribe two years ago.
Madani or his registered name Mohamad Madani Sahari pleaded not guilty to the charges before Judge Rozilah Salleh today.
The 56-year-old former officer was accused of receiving the funds from Kenny Khow Chuan Wah, who acted on P. Kuhan Arunasalam's instruction.
The funds that was given to the accused was transferred into Norizan & Associates Hong Leong Islamic Bank accounts as a reward to him for helping Aspire Knowledge Sdn Bhd to obtain the Letter of Award (LoA) worth RM12 million to run the MARii's Employability And Re-Training Local Talent (ERT) Programme service provider.
The LoA was obtained from A2Z Technology Sdn Bhd, which is MARii's subsidiary company.
He was accused of committing the offence at Hong Leong Islamic Bank Shah Alam branch, here, on July 8, 2021.
His charge today was framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the same act which carries a maximum 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe received or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How proposed to the court for a RM300,000 bail on the accused, with one surety and to have his passport surrendered to the court.
He also said that the accused, who is represented by lawyer Rahmat Hazlan, had agreed to the terms. This was confirmed by the latter.
The prosecutor also informed the court that the accused would face a few more charges in several courts soon and this was again confirmed by the accused's counsel.
The judge then ordered RM300,000 bail with one surety on the accused as well as to have him surrender his passport to the court.
The court then fixed June 8 for mention.
Last year, MACC was quoted to have arrested 10 individuals including VIPS in March to assist in the investigation into MARii's project funds misappropriation.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki was quoted in the same report to have confirmed that among the individuals nabbed included MARii's staff and top management.