KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — The prosecution has filed a notice of appeal against the Sessions Court's decision to acquit and discharge actress Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad on three charges of abetting in a RM2.8 million corruption case involving a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Berhad unit trusts 11 years ago.
Her lawyer Ridha Abdah Subri confirmed the matter when contacted. He said the prosecution filed the notice of appeal on July 31 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registrar's Office.
According to the notice, the prosecution expressed dissatisfaction with Sessions Court Judge Rosli Ahmad's July 20 decision to acquit and discharge Zizie at the end of the defence case.
The 47-year-old was freed of three amended charges under Section 28(1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.
The prosecution has also applied for a copy of the notes of evidence along with the grounds of judgment under Section 307(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593).
On January 16, the Sessions Court acquitted and discharged Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin of all three corruption charges after the prosecution decided to drop the case against the former Kinabatangan MP, who died on December 5 last year.
Zizie was charged with three counts of abetting her late husband in obtaining RM2.8 million in cash bribes.
On July 20, Judge Rosli acquitted and discharged her after finding that the defence had successfully raised reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case.
In his judgment, he said that based on legal authority, one of the elements of the abetment offence that the prosecution needed to prove was the establishment of a principal offence, namely, that the deceased (Moktar) had obtained a bribe, which is an offence under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act.
Judge Rosli ruled that Moktar's acquittal and discharge undermined the element of proving the abetment offence against Zizie, as the principal offender had been found not to have committed the corruption offence.
For the first charge, she was accused of abetting Moktar, who was then the non-executive chairman of Felcra Berhad, in obtaining a cash bribe of RM2.2 million from Public Mutual Berhad agent Madhi Abdul Hamid.
The bribe was allegedly payment for her husband's role in securing approval from the Second Finance Minister for Felcra Berhad to invest RM150 million in Public Mutual Berhad unit trust products.
For the second charge, Zizie was accused of abetting Bung Moktar to obtain RM262,500 from Madhi, deposited into a Public Islamic Treasures Growth Fund account registered in her name, for the same purpose.
She was also charged with abetting her husband to obtain a bribe of RM337,500 from another Public Mutual Berhad agent Norhaili Ahmad Mokhtar, deposited into a Public Ittikal Sequel Fund account also registered in her name, for the same purpose.
All the offences were allegedly committed at Public Bank Berhad's Taman Melawati branch on June 12 and June 19, 2015.
The charges were brought under Section 28(1)(c) of the MACC Act 2009, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of five times the bribe value or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
