PUTRAJAYA, March 6 — A former assistant manager in The Star's editorial department began serving a 20-month prison term today after the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction for accepting a RM20,000 bribe eight years ago.
A three-judge panel comprising Justices Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah, and Datuk Azmi Ariffin dismissed M. Youganesparan’s appeal against his conviction but reduced his sentence from 30 months to 20 months.
The court also maintained the RM100,000 fine that was imposed by the Sessions Court, which he had settled. The 62-year-old was granted RM50,000 bail with one surety pending the outcome of his appeal.
When delivering the court’s decision, Justice Azmi said the accused's conviction is sound and that his appeal lacked merit.
He said Youganesparan’s defence of denying that the money was a bribe and asserting it was part of a business transaction amounted to a bare denial.
Justice Azmi also dismissed the defence's contention that the accused did not get a fair trial because he was represented by incompetent counsel at the Sessions Court.
On December 17, 2018, the Sessions Court sentenced Youganesparan to 30 months in prison and fined him RM100,000, in default 18 months imprisonment.
He was found guilty of accepting RM20,000 from Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah as an inducement for a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer to close a case against him (Emir).
The offence was committed at Dome Cafe, Vista Power, The Intermark, along Jalan Tun Razak at 9.15pm on May 30, 2017.
Subsequently, Youganesparan lost his appeal at the High Court in February 2021.
During today’s proceedings, MACC Deputy Public Prosecutors Natrah Fareham Rahmat, Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir, and Siti Amirah Muhammad Ali appeared for the prosecution, while the accused was represented by a team of lawyers led by M. Manoharan.
— Bernama
