Former PAS deputy president Datuk Nasharudin Mat Isa (centre) arrives at the Sessions Court in Shah Alam October 22, 2019. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Former PAS deputy president Datuk Nasharudin Mat Isa who had fashioned himself a pious intellectual Islamic man during his political career and while he was head of the Global Moderates Movement Foundation (GMMF) — the brainchild of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak — today claimed trial to 33 money laundering and criminal breach of trust charges, directly and indirectly.

The charge sheet was a lengthy one and detailed the various ways the 56-year-old allegedly used public money allocated by the government for charities and for intellectual discourses meant to combat extremism on himself and his family instead.

Among the alleged financial abuses that stood out were splurging money allocated for the Wasatiyah Centre for Peace Sdn Bhd from luxury auto dealer Sisma Auto (KL) which deals only in Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo as well as five installment payments totalling hundreds of thousands of ringgit to buy a shophouse in Bandar Puteri Bangi, Selangor in 2015.

The former politician was also very charitable towards his own family using public funds, according to the charge sheet. He is accused of diverting funds from charity Yayasan Nassar which he set up in 2010 and where he had been chairman, to cater food for an unnamed son’s wedding.

It did not stop there. Nasharudin, who was Bachok MP from 2008 to 2013 and before that as Yan MP from 1999 to 2004, allegedly generously used RM25,756 from Yayasan Nassar to pay the college fees for his son named Ammar.

He also allegedly provided daughter Nusaibah with a RM34,000 loan, giving a twist to the adage: charity begins at home.

But among the single biggest sums of money he is accused of repurposing for his own personal agenda includes instances of RM1 million allocated to Wasatiyah Centre as a research grant.

Below, Malay Mail has translated excerpts of the original charge sheet read out in Bahasa Malaysia verbatim in English.

The first charge under the Anti Money Laundering Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA)

That you, on November 9, 2018 at CIMB Bank Berhad, Country Heights branch, No 1 Persiaran Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat District, in Selangor, have involved yourself in indirect money laundering in a transaction involving proceeds from illegal activities had deposited a sum of money totalling RM25,500 through a CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad cheque dated November 7, 2018, number 000027, owned by Wasatiyah Centre for Peace Sdn Bhd which is a company that you own into a Maybank Islamic Bandar Baru Bangi branch account number 562263526042 owned by SMR Performance Sdn Bhd where that money was allocated from the Finance Ministry to the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF), and therefore, you have commited an offence under paragraph 4 (1) (a) the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613) where it is punishable under subsection 4 (1) of the same Act.

Punishment

Any person who commits a money laundering offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fifteen years and shall also be liable to a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity or instrumentalities of an offence at the time the offence was committed or five million ringgit, whichever is the higher.

The second charge under AMLA

That you, on November 14, 2018 at CIMB Bank Berhad, Country Heights branch, No 1 Persiaran Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat District, in Selangor, have involved yourself in indirect money laundering in a transaction involving proceeds from illegal activities had deposited a sum of money totalling RM76,569.60 through a CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad cheque dated November 7, 2018, number 000026 owned by Wasatiyah Centre for Peace Sdn Bhd which is a company that you own into a Hong Leong Bank Berhad PJ City branch account number 18200019886 owned by Sisma Auto (KL) Sdn Bhd where that money was allocated from the Finance Ministry to the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF), and therefore, you have commited an offence under paragraph 4 (1) (a) the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613) where it is punishable under subsection 4 (1) of the same Act.

Punishment

Any person who commits a money laundering offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fifteen years and shall also be liable to a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity or instrumentalities of an offence at the time the offence was committed or five million ringgit, whichever is the higher.

The third charge under AMLA

That you, on December 20, 2018 at CIMB Bank Berhad, Country Heights branch, No 1 Persiaran Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat District, in Selangor, have involved yourself in indirect money laundering in a transaction involving proceeds from illegal activities had deposited a sum of money totalling RM200,000 through a CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad cheque dated December 14, 2018, number 000052 owned by Wasatiyah Centre for Peace Sdn Bhd which is a company that you own into a CIMB Bank Berhad Country Heights branch account number 8600603427 owned by Duadaya Interior Sdn Bhd where that money was allocated from the Finance Ministry to the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF), and therefore, you have commited an offence under paragraph 4 (1) (a) the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613) where it is punishable under subsection 4 (1) of the same Act.

Punishment

Any person who commits a money laundering offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fifteen years and shall also be liable to a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity or instrumentalities of an offence at the time the offence was committed or five million ringgit, whichever is the higher.

Highlights of Criminal Breach of Trust charges under the Penal Code

Some of the highlights of the 30 charges against Nasharudin under the Penal Code include benefiting his family members through his position as Yayasan Nassar (Nassar Foundation) chairman and channelling the now defunct GMMF funds while he was the foundation’s chief executive to his company Wasatiyah as research grants and the purchase of a few shoplots.

The first CBT charge: The shoplot

That you, on January 8, 2015 at CIMB Bank, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat district, in Selangor as an agent who is the chairman of Yayasan Nassar, and in that capacity, was entrusted with authority over Yayasan Nassar’s properties had committed a criminal breach of trust on the property by making fraudulent payment (dengan curangnya membuat pembayaran) to Knowledge Vision Sdn Bhd (1027577-P) for the purchase of a shophouse at No. 19, Jalan Puteri 2A Bandar Puteri Bangi, using a CIMB Bank cheque number 000599 with a sum of RM30,000 and with that you have committed an offence that is punishable under section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

Nasharudin faces four other similar charges for paying the installment of the shophouse from Knowledge Vision with the offence ranging from RM89,940 to RM239,820.

The second CBT charge: Salary as Yayasan Nassar chairman

That you, on February 18, 2015 at CIMB Bank, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat district, in Selangor as an agent who is the chairman of Yayasan Nassar, and in that capacity, was entrusted with authority over Yayasan Nassar’s properties had committed a criminal breach of trust on the property by receiving fraudulent payment of RM20,000 as the salary of Yayasan Nassar’s chairman for the month of February 2015, through a CIMB Bank cheque number 000631 with the sum of RM20,000 that was deposited into a CIMB account No. 8600602056 that you own, and with that you have committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

Nasharudin faces 16 other similar charges with the second charge where he was accused of using Yayasan Nassar’s funds to pay a RM20,000 to RM21,273.80 salary.

The 19th CBT charge: Wedding catering

That you, on August 22, 2016 at CIMB Bank, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat district, in Selangor as an agent who is the chairman of Yayasan Nassar, and in that capacity, was entrusted with authority over Yayasan Nassar’s properties had committed a criminal breach of trust on the property by making a payment through a CIMB Bank cheque number 000906 with a total sum of RM51,000 to Amril bin Khaidir as payment for his catering services for your son’s wedding, and with that you have committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

The 25th CBT charge: College fees

That you, on February 1, 2018 at CIMB Bank, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat district, in Selangor as an agent who is the chairman of Yayasan Nassar, and in that capacity, was entrusted with authority over Yayasan Nassar’s properties had committed a criminal breach of trust on the property by making a fraudulent payment to KDU Universiti College Sdn Bhd by using a CIMB Bank cheque No. 000945 with a sum of RM25,756 as a college fee payment for your son Ammar bin Nasharudin, and with that you have committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

The 26th CBT charge: Loan to daughter

That you, on March 1, 2018 at CIMB Bank, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights, 43000 Kajang, in the Hulu Langat district, in Selangor as an agent who is the chairman of Yayasan Nassar, and in that capacity, was entrusted with authority over Yayasan Nassar’s properties had committed a criminal breach of trust on the property by making a fraudulent payment of RM34,000 to Nusaibah Nasharudin who is your daughter, by using a CIMB Bank cheque No. 000946 as a loan to her, and with that you have committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

The 28th CBT charge: Research grants

That you, on July 30, 2018 at Maybank Menara Felda Platinum Park branch, 11 Persiaran KLCC, in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, as an agent who is the chief executive of the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF) in that capacity, was entrusted with the authority over properties owned by GMMF had committed a criminal breach of trust by making a fraudulent payment to Wasatiyah Centre for Peace Sdn Bhd for the purpose of PV02/07/18 RESEARCH GRANT amounting to RM1,000,000 and with that you have committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

Punishment

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, in his capacity of a public servant or an agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and not more than twenty years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine.

Nasharudin is facing two other similar charges to this with the sum amounting to RM1 million and another amounting to RM600,000.