KUALA LUMPUR: Former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Mansor, who was found guilty of accepting RM2 million from a businessman, has filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal.
Tengku Adnan, better known as Ku Nan, filed a notice of appeal against his conviction and sentence yesterday.
Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim said a notice was served on them today “by way of e-filing yesterday afternoon”.
Since an appeal has been filed, it will move the High Court to prepare the appeal records which consist of the judgment, notes of evidence and exhibits.
Yesterday, trial Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said the defence had failed to create any reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
The 70-year-old Putrajaya MP was then sentenced to a year’s jail and fined RM2 million for receiving money from businessman Chai Kin Kong in 2016.
Ku Nan received the money from Chai, who was Aset Kayamas’ director, despite knowing that the businessman’s companies had dealings with the federal territories ministry which was under him at the time.
The judge said after maximum evaluation of the prosecution’s evidence against the defence, it was found that the accused was not entrusted to raise funds for two by-elections, in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar, in 2016, as claimed by the defence.
Zaini in his judgment said Ku Nan had no valid reason to raise funds for the two by-elections as these constituencies were not in his domain as the then Umno and Barisan Nasional Federal Territories chairman.
“He was furthermore not the treasurer (of Umno) as claimed,” the judge said, adding that he was also disinclined to accept the testimonies of two defence witnesses.
They were Rizalman Mokhtar, a former Sungai Besar by-election machinery director, and Zakaria Dullah, the then Simpang Renggam Umno division chief.
Zaini said, in his opinion, their testimonies were concocted after the event in an attempt to bolster the defence of the accused.
He said the RM2 million given by Chai remained in Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, for the benefit of the accused. It was shown that Ku Nan was the majority shareholder of the company.
“It is therefore established that the accused used Tadmansori Holdings Sdn Bhd, as a facade to receive the fruits of his crime,” he added.
Meanwhile, FMT understands that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is also studying Zaini’s judgment on whether to file an appeal on inadequacy of sentence against Ku Nan.