(From left) Amir Sharifuddin Abd Raub, Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi and Ahmad Fauzan Hatim Abd Latif pose for pictures at the Sessions Court in Johor Baru April 21, 2019. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The Sessions Court acquitted today former Johor exco Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi of all his 37 charges for corruption and money laundering linked to a housing and land scandal in the state.

According to The Star Online portal, Sessions Court judge Kamarudin Kamsun in Johor Baru also acquitted Latif’s son, Ahmad Fauzan Hatim, and property consultant Amir Shariffuddin Abd Raub who had been jointly charged with him.

Kamarudin said the prosecution failed to show prima facie and gave all three full acquittals, although the prosecution has 14 days to appeal.

In April 2017, all three were charged with 33 offences under Section 28(1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act that prohibits the abetting or engagement in a criminal conspiracy to commit any offence under the Act.

They had also been hit with four charges under Section 32(8)(c) and Section 89 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2001.

Abdul Latif was accused of conspiring with Amir to receive bribes from several individuals in order to obtain approval for the release of some Bumiputra housing lots to the public, as well as to reduce payments in contribution to the Johor Housing Fund for the Pulai Eco Botanic project.

Amir was accused of obtaining bribes from several individuals for himself and for Abdul Latif for the same purpose.

The MACC also froze 45 bank accounts valued at RM15.5 million and seized 21 luxury cars, five high-powered motorcycles, RM500,000 in cash, including foreign currencies, as well as documents to assist investigations then.

The prosecution called 63 witnesses and exhibited over 1,000 items of evidence during the trial that spanned 40 days.

The MACC’s Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry and Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman prosecuted the case while the defendants were represented by Datuk Hasnal Redzua Mericann, Datuk Sallehudin Saidin, Azrul Zulkifli Stork, Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat, Rahim Aidil, Nur Hafidzah Md Yusuff, Siti Sarah Khalil and Hafez Zalkapli.