KUALA LUMPUR: Social media influencer popularly known as Alif Teega claimed trial at the Sessions Court today to two charges of misappropriating RM63,605.48 derived from infaq (donations) meant for qurban and iftar programmes in April and June.
Mohd Hazalif Mohd Hazani, 30, entered his plea after the charges were read before judge Azura Alwi.
"I want to go on trial," he told the court.
On the first count, he was accused of dishonestly misusing RM36,047.35 for iftar in Makkah, Syria and Palestine at CIMB Bank at KL Gateway on April 26.
On the second count, he was alleged to have dishonestly misused RM27,558.13 for the 'Jom! Sertai Infaq Daging Qurban' programme at the same bank on June 15.
Each charge under Section 403 of the Penal Code carries a jail term between six months to five years, whipping and a fine.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Yasmin Salleh offered a bail of between RM50,000 and RM100,000 bail for both charges.
As additional conditions, she said the accused must surrender his passport to the court and report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) until the case concludes.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Mohd Shahrullah Khan said Hazalif has financial difficulties and can only afford a RM10,000 bail.
"His money and properties have been frozen by the MACC. He was told yesterday he will be charged today.
"He and his elder brother, who will be the bailor, did not manage to raise enough bail.
"He can only afford RM10,000 and that is all he and his brother have," he said.
He said Hazalif has never failed to cooperate with the MACC even after his remand expired and when called by investigators to have his statement recorded.
He said Hazalif's passport was still being held by the MACC and there was no reason for him to abscond or skip court proceedings.
In reply, Farah Yasmin said the defence's suggested RM10,000 bail does not reflect severity of the offences.
"The bail sum proposed is reasonable but we leave it to the court to decide," she said.
After hearing the submissions, Azura set bail atRM50,000 with one surety and ordered him to report to Putrajaya MACC monthly and surrender his passport to the court.
Oct 21 was fixed for mention.
After proceedings, Shahrullah said they will post bail while Hazalif's wife, Aisyah Hijanah Azhari said they will give their full cooperation until the case concludes.
In July, Hazalif and Aisyah, were remanded for seven days to assist in investigations after they were accused of misappropriating public donation funds.
The MACC froze about 20 bank accounts containing over RM740,000 as part of its investigation into the misappropriation of public donation funds involving Aliff, Aisyah and two other persons.
It was alleged the accounts which belonged to them and companies have received funds from the public through an online fundraising platform.
The accounts were frozen under Section 44 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The couple denied allegations of financial abuse.