Appeals court denies ex-judge, businessman from recovering RM182,100 in forfeited cash

PUTRAJAYA – A former sessions court judge and a businessman have exhausted all avenues to recover RM182,100 forfeited by the government after the Court of Appeal here dismissed their application today.

Previously, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), on July 22 and 26, 2019, had confiscated cash from Azmil Muntapha Abas’ chamber and bench in the Kuala Kubu Baru courthouse, in relation to an investigation about a bribery case involving Azmil at that time. 

After that, the Shah Alam sessions court allowed the MACC to forfeit the sum to the government on November 23, 2021. 

Azmil and 68-year-old businessman Leong Peng Woon then appealed the forfeiture at the High Court, where their application was then dismissed on April 10 of this year. 

In today’s proceedings, a three-member bench led by Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, with Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah, unanimously dismissed their appeal.

The bench found that the lower courts did not err in their decision in granting the forfeiture to the MACC and dismissed the duo’s appeal. 

Vazeer Alam, in delivering the unanimous decision, said the MACC’s application for the property forfeiture was constitutional. 

“We are also satisfied that the application by both appellants (Azmil and Leong) has been considered at the sessions court and high court previously, and the decisions reached by the courts are based on correct facts and law. 

“Therefore, both applicants’ applications are dismissed, with no cost.”

Earlier, lawyer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, who represented the appellants submitted that the amount in contention is a loan from Leong to Azmil, and that there was a physical loan agreement inked between the two of them. 

He also submitted that the loan from Leong to Azmil was in regards to the latter wanting to purchase a house. He said the agreement has a duty stamp and Inland Revenue Board (IRB) stamp on it. 

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurzilati Ishani Zainal rebutted by saying that cross-checks on the IRB’s system showed no document of such an agreement, and that the validity of the agreement is in doubt. 

Azmil was charged on November 6, 2019, where he pleaded not guilty to receiving RM5,000 as a bribe and ordered only fine sentences to six illegal foreigners for offences under Section 9(1) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 (Act 289). 

The former judge, however, was found guilty of the offence by the Shah Alam Sessions Court on October 19, last year and he was sentenced to six months in jail and a RM25,000 fine. 

He then appealed the sentence and conviction to the Shah Alam High Court, which then reduced his sentence to a RM12,000 fine and one day in jail. – October 20, 2023