Ex-Selangor MB loses final bid in RM3.5m corruption case, sentence pending
(Malay Mail Online) – Former Selangor mentri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo lost his final appeal against a corruption conviction today, but it is unknown for now if the Federal Court will maintain the one-year jail term handed down previously by a lower court.
Federal Court judge Tan Sri Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha said that Mohamad Khir had taken full value of land and a house that was worth at least RM5 million, and that his payment of RM3.5 million was inadequate.
“It remained that the offence as charged was proven beyond reasonable doubt,” the Federal Court judge said when reading out a summary of a five-man panel’s unanimous decision.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, who chaired the panel, told defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to present in 30 minutes’ time his arguments to mitigate his client’s sentence.
The other judges on the panel are Tan Sri Ahmad Haji Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Datuk Ramly Haji Ali.
On December 23, 2011, Mohamad Khir was convicted by the Shah Alam High Court on December 23, 2011 of corruptly using his position as then Selangor Mentri Besar and Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) chairperson to obtain land and property below the market price in 2007.
He was given a 12 months’ jail sentence after being found guilty of obtaining two plots of land and a bungalow in Section 7, Shah Alam for himself and his wife Zahrah Kechik, from Ditamas Sdn Bhd through its director Datuk Shamsuddin Hayroni.
On May 30, 2013, Dr Mohamad Khir lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal against his conviction and one-year jail term.
