KUALA LUMPUR: Former finance division secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) Otman Arsahd, today failed in his bid to prevent sessions court Judge Azura Alwi from hearing his case on grounds of possible bias.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Rozana Ali Yusof then ordered for the case to be heard before the same sessions court judge until the case was completed.
In her judgment, Rozana said the withdrawal of a judge from hearing a case can only be sought on ‘actual bias’ or ‘real danger of bias’ and not ‘apparent bias’.
“The reason given that there may be a possibility of ‘real danger of bias’ in the presence of the same judge does not have merit, so the application is rejected and I order for the trial to take place before the same judge until it is completed,“ she said.
Otman, 60, had filed the application via his counsel Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali on Jan 25, 2019, on grounds that during the guilty plea of the second accused, Abdul Gafar Abdul Rahman on Nov 23, 2018, the facts of the case were read and presented before judge Azura herself.
Otman also claimed there would be prejudice against him and he would be denied a fair trial if the hearing was heard before the same judge.
Rozana said records showed 63 prosecution witnesses had been called to testify so far, and if the application (to change the Judge) was allowed, it would only waste more time and resources.
During the proceedings before Judge Azura, Abdul Gafar, 45, was sentenced to one-year jail on Nov 23, 2018, after he pleaded guilty to transferring money to Otman’s account, while his wife, Siti Rohanah Hussien, 45, a housewife, was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the same charge.
The couple was charged with 63 counts of transferring money totaling RM15,723,000 gained through illegal means from the bank accounts of three companies owned by them into Otman’s bank accounts.
On April 21, 2016, Otman, was charged with 64 counts of receiving RM16,623,000 in ill-gotten gains into his Maybank, RHB and CIMB Berhad accounts via cheques dated between March 7, 2012, and Dec 11, 2015.
Otman, Abdul Gafar and Siti Rohanah were charged under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001, which carries a maximum fine of RM5 million, or a maximum jail term of five years, or both, upon conviction.
They were also charged under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 200,1 which carries a jail term of up to 15 years or a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity, upon conviction.
The prosecution of the ongoing case is being handled by AMLA deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy public prosecutor Abdul Rashid Sulaiman. — Bernama
